County profile · official public datasets

Wright County, IA

182 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.2% rated Good, 35.7% Fair, 29.1% Poor.

182
Public bridges: 35.2%
Good condition: 29.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wright County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

78th
of 99 on Poor share: 29.1%
Poor-condition share: 182
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Wright County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wright County ranks #78 of 99 Iowa counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 29.1%). Wright County, Iowa contains 182 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.2% are rated “Good,” 35.7% “Fair,” and 29.1% “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

182

Public highway bridges in Wright County

Good condition

35.2%

64 of 182 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35.7%

65 of 182 rated 5-6

Poor condition

29.1%

53 of 182 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#78 of 99

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

Condition distribution

Share of 182 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.2% (64)

Fair

35.7% (65)

Poor

29.1% (53)

Wright County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,505 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 29.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 160 crossings a day against 802 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 182 of 182 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.5% of Wright County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

61 of the 182 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 35.2% 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 11.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

C70 330TH ST over BOONE RIVER, built 1951, carries 977 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 53-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,505 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1910s

3
1920s

6
1930s

6
1940s

1
1950s

3
1960s

22
1970s

40
1980s

35
1990s

17
2000s

19
2010s

20
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Iowa average (1979).

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

The 5 Iowa counties nearest Wright County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 29.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wright County and the 5 Iowa counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Osceola County	185	38.4%	53%	8.6%	1965
Mills County	184	29.3%	51.6%	19%	1976
Appanoose County	183	41%	27.9%	31.1%	1981
Keokuk County	183	34.4%	45.9%	19.7%	1980
Ida County	182	42.9%	40.7%	16.5%	1983
Wright County (this page)	182	35.2%	35.7%	29.1%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IA (182 bridges here).

Logan County, CO · 182 bridges
Pulaski County, KY · 182 bridges
Jackson County, MN · 182 bridges
Scott County, MO · 182 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IA (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 182 Good 64 Fair 65 Poor 53

All bridges (182)

Sort:

Wright County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wright County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,505 vehicle crossings a day

33.5% of Wright County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wright 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

All bridges (182)

FM

NORTH DAVIS AVE

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL

LOCAL

R65 UNION AVE

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD

R35 KEOKUK AVE

IA 3

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

9TH ST SW

IA 17

CEDAR ST

FM

IA 3 & 17

NB I-35

LOCAL ROAD

IA 17

C26 (150TH ST)

R33(HANCOCK AV)

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

BUCHANAN AVE

LOCAL

LOCAL

FM

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

LOCAL

230TH ST

LOCAL

LOCAL ROAD

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