County profile · official public datasets

Barry County, MO

166 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.5% rated Good, 61.4% Fair, 15.1% Poor.

166
Public bridges: 23.5%
Good condition: 15.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Barry County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

97th
of 115 on Poor share: 15.1%
Poor-condition share: 166
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Barry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Barry County ranks #97 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.1%). Barry County, Missouri contains 166 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.5% are rated “Good,” 61.4% “Fair,” and 15.1% “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

166

Public highway bridges in Barry County

Good condition

23.5%

39 of 166 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.4%

102 of 166 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.1%

25 of 166 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#97 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 166 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.5% (39)

Fair

61.4% (102)

Poor

15.1% (25)

Barry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,927 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 717 crossings a day against 706 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 166 of 166 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.2% of Barry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 166 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 23.5% 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 13.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 112 W over DRY HOLLOW BR, built 1934, carries 2,475 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 17,927 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

6
1920s

7
1930s

29
1940s

5
1950s

17
1960s

15
1970s

3
1980s

5
1990s

29
2000s

35
2010s

13
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 6 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

How Barry County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Barry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 5 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 114 Missouri counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Barry County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Holt County	167	38.3%	46.7%	15%	1974
Knox County	167	34.7%	61.1%	4.2%	1987
Barry County (this page)	166	23.5%	61.4%	15.1%	1973
St. Francois County	165	38.2%	51.5%	10.3%	1968
Montgomery County	163	28.8%	65%	6.1%	1979
Randolph County	163	60.1%	36.8%	3.1%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (166 bridges here).

Clay County, IL · 166 bridges
Trego County, KS · 166 bridges
Bay County, MI · 166 bridges
Pontotoc County, MS · 166 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 166 Good 39 Fair 102 Poor 25

All bridges (166)

Sort:

Barry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Barry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,927 vehicle crossings a day

48.2% of Barry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Barry County compares with Missouri'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 (166)

FARM RD 1040

FARM RD 1070

FARM RD 1010

FARM RD 1162

FARM RD 1245

FARM RD 1230

FARM RD 2080

RT B E

FARM RD 2065

FARM RD 2080

MO 97 S

RT W E

MO 86 E

FARM RD 1012

SALE BARN RD

FARM RD 1240

FARM RD 2050

SIXTH ST

FIFTH ST

SEVENTH ST

FARM RD 2012

FARM RD 1245

FARM RD 2190

COUNTY RD 2150

RT C E

RT F E

MO 86 E

MO 39 S

RT E E

FARM RD 1095

FARM RD 1090

FARM RD 1120

FARM RD 1052

FARM RD 1010

RT EE E

FR 1065

FARM RD 2190

MO 39 N

RT EE E

FARM RD 1100

FARM RD 2260

RT U E

RT M S

MO 76 E

MO 248 E

RT C E

MO 86 E

MO 248 E

US 60 W

MO 97 S

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