County profile · official public datasets

Bates County, MO

319 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.6% rated Good, 70.2% Fair, 7.2% Poor.

319
Public bridges
22.6%
Good condition
7.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 37%
lowest Poor share in state
7.2%
Poor-condition share
319
public highway bridges
1977
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.

Bates County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bates County ranks #42 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.2%). Bates County, Missouri contains 319 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.6% are rated “Good,” 70.2% “Fair,” and 7.2% “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

319

Public highway bridges in Bates County

Good condition

22.6%

72 of 319 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70.2%

224 of 319 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.2%

23 of 319 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 319 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
22.6% (72)
Fair
70.2% (224)
Poor
7.2% (23)

Bates County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,395 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,887 crossings a day against 726 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 319 of 319 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.7% of Bates County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

133 of the 319 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 22.6% 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 23.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 49 N over MORMON FK CR, built 1969, carries 10,202 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 43,395 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Bates County's bridges were built

319 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Bates County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bates County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Boone County 334 3.9%
Franklin County 331 4.5%
Harrison County 331 21.5%
Bates County (this page) 319 7.2%
Audrain County 314 4.8%
Linn County 313 17.6%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (319 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1977 here).

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

All 319 Good 72 Fair 224 Poor 23

Poor-condition bridges (23)

RT B E

Poor

Over: WILLOW CR

S 1 T 38 N R 30 W, Bates, MO

Built 1935 Load: 9.9 t ADT: 343

NE 13274

Poor

Over: ELK FK

S 26 T 42 N R 30 W, Bates, MO

Built 1905 Load: 10.8 t ADT: 25

11253

Poor

Over: SOAP CR

S 21 T 41 N R 29 W, Bates, MO

Built 1940 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 30

RT W S

Poor

Over: PANTHER CR

S 10 T 39 N R 29 W, Bates, MO

Built 1955 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 50

SE 4006

Poor

Over: MIAMI DITCH

S 16 T 39 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1989 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 75

RT TT E

Poor

Over: BONES BR

S 6 T 40 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1957 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 386

RT W S

Poor

Over: CAMP CR

S 28 T 39 N R 29 W, Bates, MO

Built 1955 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 50

RT N S

Poor

Over: S DOUBLE BR

S 17 T 39 N R 30 W, Bates, MO

Built 1962 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 113

9002

Poor

Over: WILLOW BR

S 23 T 41 N R 33 W, Bates, MO

Built 1950 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 30

RT H E

Poor

Over: DEEPWATER CR

S 17 T 40 N R 29 W, Bates, MO

Built 1967 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 479

IS 49 S

Poor

Over: MORMON FK CR

S 9 T 42 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1926 Load: 21.6 t ADT: 10,149

RT D E

Poor

Over: STEWART CR

S 35 T 41 N R 29 W, Bates, MO

Built 1954 Load: 21.6 t ADT: 27

RT D E

Poor

Over: IS 49

S 27 T 41 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1969 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 1,240

MO 18 E

Poor

Over: PLUM BR

S 1 T 41 N R 33 W, Bates, MO

Built 1935 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 425

9005

Poor

Over: DRAIN DTCH

S 23 T 38 N R 30 W, Bates, MO

Built 2001 Load: 25.2 t ADT: 5

RT A E

Poor

Over: IS 49

S 9 T 38 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1969 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 4,068

IS 49 S

Poor

Over: MUDDY CR

S 20 T 38 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1960 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 6,732

OR 49 S

Poor

Over: POSSUM CR

S 5 T 39 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1924 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 42

IS 49 N

Poor

Over: LP 49 MNA RR

S 3 T 40 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1969 Load: 29.7 t ADT: 8,711

1801

Poor

Over: BONES BR

S 32 T 41 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1920 Load: 34.2 t ADT: 50

IS 49 N

Poor

Over: MORMON FK CR

S 9 T 42 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1969 Load: 35.1 t ADT: 10,202

1575

Poor

Over: DRAIN DTCH

S 3 T 38 N R 31 W, Bates, MO

Built 1995 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 50

RT N S

Poor

Over: DOUBLE BR

S 7 T 39 N R 30 W, Bates, MO

Built 1962 Load: 43.2 t ADT: 113

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

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.