Total bridges
190
Public highway bridges in Wapello County
County profile · official public datasets
190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.8% rated Good, 39.5% Fair, 14.7% Poor.
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.
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.
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
Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
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.
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.
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.
190 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1910–1919
1 bridges
1920–1929
2 bridges
1930–1939
8 bridges
1950–1959
4 bridges
1960–1969
38 bridges
1970–1979
14 bridges
1980–1989
26 bridges
1990–1999
19 bridges
2000–2009
45 bridges
2010–2019
22 bridges
2020–2029
11 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.
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.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page County | 196 | 24% | 43.9% | 32.1% | 1975 |
| Lucas County | 195 | 32.3% | 34.4% | 33.3% | 1977 |
| Webster County | 190 | 45.8% | 28.9% | 25.3% | 1983 |
| Wapello County (this page) | 190 | 45.8% | 39.5% | 14.7% | 1987 |
| Adams County | 186 | 10.2% | 45.2% | 44.6% | 1967 |
| Osceola County | 185 | 38.4% | 53% | 8.6% | 1965 |
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.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Wapello County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IA (190 bridges here).
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.
Over: DRAINAGE
072143600, Wapello, IA
Over: DRAINAGE DITCH
072133101, Wapello, IA
Over: HARROWS CREEK
072141300, Wapello, IA
Over: CHIPPEWA CREEK
071122100, Wapello, IA
Over: CHIPPEWA CREEK
071122804, Wapello, IA
Over: TURKEY CREEK
071131005, Wapello, IA
Over: SUGAR CREEK
072131603, Wapello, IA
Over: BRANCH DES MOINES RIVER
072131701, Wapello, IA
Over: SUGAR CREEK
072132941, Wapello, IA
Over: BR CEDAR CREEK
072120902, Wapello, IA
Over: SUGAR CREEK
072132821, Wapello, IA
Over: US 63
2.3 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA
Over: 100TH STREET
0.9 mi. N of N Jct. US 34, Wapello, IA
Over: CHIPPEWA CREEK
071122800, Wapello, IA
Over: IA 16
At jct. IA 16 and SR V43, Wapello, IA
Over: LITTLE CEDAR CREEK
072130402, Wapello, IA
Over: COMPETINE CREEK
073120901, Wapello, IA
Over: US 63
At the East Jct. U.S. 63, Wapello, IA
Over: 100TH STREET
0.9 mi N of N Jct. US 34, Wapello, IA
Over: CEDAR CREEK
072121301, Wapello, IA
Over: JORDAN CREEK
072121701, Wapello, IA
Over: US 63
1.5 mi. N of N Jct. US 34, Wapello, IA
Over: SMALL STREAM
071143508, Wapello, IA
Over: SUGAR CREEK
0.8 mi. E of E Jct. US 63, Wapello, IA
Over: SUGAR CREEK
0.8 mi. E of E Jct. US 63, Wapello, IA
Over: DME RR
1.6 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA
Over: JORDAN CREEK
072121702, Wapello, IA
Over: DME RR
1.6 mi. S of Jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA
Over: CO RD G-77
0.9 mi. N of IA 137, Wapello, IA
Over: CO RD G-77
0.7 mi. N of jct. IA 137, Wapello, IA
Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK
071133506, Wapello, IA
Over: BRUSH CREEK
071143006, Wapello, IA
Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK
071151304, Wapello, IA
Over: BRANCH DES MOINES RIVER
072152704, Wapello, IA
Over: SOUTH AVERY CREEK
072152105, Wapello, IA
Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK
071142404, Wapello, IA
Over: N AVERY CREEK
073153002, Wapello, IA
Over: US 63
at Jct. of SR H25, Wapello, IA
Over: MIDDLE AVERY CREEK
073153204, Wapello, IA
Over: DES MOINES RIVER
071131006, Wapello, IA
Over: WOLF CREEK
073123303, Wapello, IA
Over: IA 137
At jct. Iowa 137, Wapello, IA
Over: US 34
At Jct. SR V37, Wapello, IA
Over: IA 149
At Jct. IA #149, Wapello, IA
Over: IA 149
At jct. IA 149, Wapello, IA
Over: DES MOINES RIVER
0.1 mi. N of Jct. SR T-61, Wapello, IA
Over: BEAR CREEK
072142312, Wapello, IA
Over: BEAR CREEK
072153302, Wapello, IA
Over: LITTLE SOAP CREEK
071152004, Wapello, IA
Over: BRANCH MIDDLE AVERY CRK
072150702, Wapello, IA
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.