County profile · official public datasets

Wapello County, IA

190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.8% rated Good, 39.5% Fair, 14.7% Poor.

190
Public bridges
45.8%
Good condition
14.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Wapello County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state
14.7%
Poor-condition share
190
public highway bridges
1987
avg year built

Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.

Wapello County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wapello County ranks #32 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.7%). Wapello County, Iowa contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.8% are rated “Good,” 39.5% “Fair,” and 14.7% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.

Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.

Total bridges

190

Public highway bridges in Wapello County

Good condition

45.8%

87 of 190 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.5%

75 of 190 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.7%

28 of 190 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 99

Among Iowa counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
45.8% (87)
Fair
39.5% (75)
Poor
14.7% (28)

Wapello County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,085 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 146 crossings a day against 1,780 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.

Computed over the 190 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.1% of Wapello County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 190 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 45.8% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.

Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

One structure carries 23.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM over VILLAGE CREEK, built 1961, carries 950 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,085 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Wapello County's bridges were built

190 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 8 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Wapello County compares with Iowa's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Wapello County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 14 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 98 Iowa counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wapello County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Page County 196 32.1%
Lucas County 195 33.3%
Webster County 190 25.3%
Wapello County (this page) 190 14.7%
Adams County 186 44.6%
Osceola County 185 8.6%

Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Wapello County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Wapello County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (190 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1987 here).

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 190 Good 87 Fair 75 Poor 28

Good-condition bridges (87)

US 63 NB

Good

Over: DME RR

1.6 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA

Built 2007 Load: 36.1 t ADT: 3,000

60TH AVE

Good

Over: JORDAN CREEK

072121702, Wapello, IA

Built 2021 Load: 36.5 t ADT: 21

US 63 SB

Good

Over: DME RR

1.6 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA

Built 2007 Load: 37.7 t ADT: 3,000

US 63 NB

Good

Over: CO RD G-77

0.9 mi. N of IA 137, Wapello, IA

Built 2001 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 5,200

US 63 SB

Good

Over: CO RD G-77

0.7 mi. N of jct. IA 137, Wapello, IA

Built 2001 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 5,200

90TH AVE

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071133506, Wapello, IA

Built 2011 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 80

LOCAL

Good

Over: BRUSH CREEK

071143006, Wapello, IA

Built 1991 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 21

LOCAL

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071151304, Wapello, IA

Built 2010 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 30

215TH AVE

Good

Over: BRANCH DES MOINES RIVER

072152704, Wapello, IA

Built 2022 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 70

FM

Good

Over: SOUTH AVERY CREEK

072152105, Wapello, IA

Built 2004 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 330

LITTLE SOAP RD

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071142404, Wapello, IA

Built 2011 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 300

FM

Good

Over: N AVERY CREEK

073153002, Wapello, IA

Built 2008 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 1,250

H 25

Good

Over: US 63

at Jct. of SR H25, Wapello, IA

Built 2006 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 1,080

LOCAL

Good

Over: MIDDLE AVERY CREEK

073153204, Wapello, IA

Built 1985 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 41

FM

Good

Over: DES MOINES RIVER

071131006, Wapello, IA

Built 1985 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 80

FM

Good

Over: WOLF CREEK

073123303, Wapello, IA

Built 2007 Load: 42.3 t ADT: 20

US 63 SB

Good

Over: IA 137

At jct. Iowa 137, Wapello, IA

Built 2004 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 4,650

SR V37

Good

Over: US 34

At Jct. SR V37, Wapello, IA

Built 2006 Load: 43.2 t ADT: 1,090

US 63 NB

Good

Over: IA 149

At Jct. IA #149, Wapello, IA

Built 2007 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 2,500

US 63 SB

Good

Over: IA 149

At jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA

Built 2007 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 2,500

IA 137

Good

Over: DES MOINES RIVER

0.1 mi. N of Jct. SR T-61, Wapello, IA

Built 2006 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 5,800

QUINCY AVE

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

072142312, Wapello, IA

Built 2012 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 3,610

230TH AVE

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

072153302, Wapello, IA

Built 2019 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 45

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071152004, Wapello, IA

Built 1999 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 60

FM

Good

Over: BRANCH MIDDLE AVERY CRK

072150702, Wapello, IA

Built 2008 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 1,250

FM

Good

Over: BUCKEYE CREEK

072121502, Wapello, IA

Built 2006 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 320

EDDYVILLE RD

Good

Over: SMALL STREAM

072141005, Wapello, IA

Built 1988 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 2,600

LOCAL

Good

Over: LITTLE CEDAR CREEK

073133501, Wapello, IA

Built 2001 Load: 47.2 t ADT: 25

US 63 NB

Good

Over: IA 137

At Jct. Iowa 137, Wapello, IA

Built 2004 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 4,650

LOCAL

Good

Over: LITTLE CEDAR CREEK

072130502, Wapello, IA

Built 1987 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 35

LOCAL

Good

Over: CEDAR CREEK

073131707, Wapello, IA

Built 2002 Load: 49.6 t ADT: 15

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071141610, Wapello, IA

Built 2004 Load: 49.7 t ADT: 480

FM

Good

Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK

071142204, Wapello, IA

Built 2002 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 120

LOCAL

Good

Over: BRANCH CEDAR CREEK

073140102, Wapello, IA

Built 2002 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 73

US 63 NB

Good

Over: FUDGE CREEK

4.3 mi. S of Jct. IA 137, Wapello, IA

Built 1988 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 4,950

STATE ST

Good

Over: IMRL RR

000000000, Wapello, IA

Built 2000 Load: 53.8 t ADT: 619

US 63

Good

Over: LITTLE CEDAR CREEK

2.0 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA

Built 2005 Load: 57.1 t ADT: 6,000

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.