County profile · official public datasets

Wayne County, IA

163 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.2% rated Good, 37.4% Fair, 18.4% Poor.

163
Public bridges: 44.2%
Good condition: 18.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wayne 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 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 18.4%
Poor-condition share: 163
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #45 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 18.4%). Wayne County, Iowa contains 163 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.2% are rated “Good,” 37.4% “Fair,” and 18.4% “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

163

Public highway bridges in Wayne County

Good condition

44.2%

72 of 163 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.4%

61 of 163 rated 5-6

Poor condition

18.4%

30 of 163 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 163 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.2% (72)

Fair

37.4% (61)

Poor

18.4% (30)

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,757 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 18.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 59 crossings a day against 123 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 163 of 163 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.7% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

37 of the 163 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 44.2% 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 38.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S 40 over DRAINAGE, built 1972, carries 680 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,757 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1940s

2
1950s

13
1960s

14
1970s

17
1980s

32
1990s

22
2000s

25
2010s

28
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 10 years newer than the Iowa average of 1979.

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 18.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 12 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wayne County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clarke County	168	27.4%	41.1%	31.5%	1977
Mitchell County	167	47.3%	42.5%	10.2%	1980
Davis County	165	44.8%	29.7%	25.5%	1985
Hamilton County	165	39.4%	40%	20.6%	1970
Wayne County (this page)	163	44.2%	37.4%	18.4%	1989
Monona County	162	36.4%	38.3%	25.3%	1973

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 Wayne 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 Wayne County, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (163 bridges here).

Mercer County, IL · 163 bridges
Jennings County, IN · 163 bridges
Jackson County, LA · 163 bridges
Lapeer County, MI · 163 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges

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

All 163 Good 72 Fair 61 Poor 30

Poor-condition bridges (30)

Sort:

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,757 vehicle crossings a day

22.7% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 38.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Poor-condition bridges (30)

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FIELD ENTRANCE

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