Total bridges
246
Public highway bridges in Buchanan County
County profile · official public datasets
246 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.1% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 7.7% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Buchanan County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge 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, Buchanan County ranks #48 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Buchanan County, Missouri contains 246 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.1% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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
246
Public highway bridges in Buchanan County
Good condition
34.1%
84 of 246 rated 7-9
Fair condition
58.1%
143 of 246 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.7%
19 of 246 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#48 of 115
Among Missouri counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 246 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 6.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,408 crossings a day against 1,931 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 246 of 246 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
78 of the 246 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 34.1% 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.
US 36 E over IS 229 CST 6TH ST IS, built 1951, carries 17,137 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 64,751 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
246 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
3 bridges
1910–1919
3 bridges
1920–1929
6 bridges
1930–1939
4 bridges
1940–1949
5 bridges
1950–1959
24 bridges
1960–1969
26 bridges
1970–1979
42 bridges
1980–1989
35 bridges
1990–1999
47 bridges
2000–2009
19 bridges
2010–2019
21 bridges
2020–2029
11 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Missouri average (1979).
The 5 Missouri counties nearest Buchanan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 114 Missouri counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gentry County | 246 | 52% | 33.3% | 14.6% | 1992 |
| Buchanan County (this page) | 246 | 34.1% | 58.1% | 7.7% | 1981 |
| Pettis County | 243 | 43.6% | 45.3% | 11.1% | 1975 |
| St. Louis city County | 240 | 31.3% | 58.8% | 10% | 1982 |
| Lafayette County | 238 | 31.9% | 65.5% | 2.5% | 1980 |
| DeKalb County | 237 | 35% | 56.5% | 8.4% | 1985 |
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 Buchanan County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Buchanan County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside MO (246 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1981 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: BR OF PLATTE RVR
S 16 T 57 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF PLATTE RVR
S 30 T 57 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: CASTILE CR
S 17 T 55 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: SUGAR CR
S 28 T 55 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: WOLFPEN CR
S 33 T 56 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PIGEON CR
S 23 T 56 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BNSF RR ROYS BR
S 6 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229
S 30 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229
S 31 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PLATTE RVR OVRFL
S 4 T 57 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 29
S 23 T 56 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: LIT SUGAR CR
S 16 T 55 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: CASTILE CR
S 19 T 55 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF WHITEHEAD CR
S 28 T 57 N R 37 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: LOST CR
S 24 T 55 N R 37 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BEE CR BR
S 15 T 55 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BLEAZARD BR OF BEE
S 35 T 55 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PLATTE RVR OVRFL
S 28 T 56 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF CLOVERDALE D
S 33 T 56 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: SUGAR CR
S 27 T 55 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PLATTE RVR
S 28 T 56 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 29
S 26 T 56 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF GAY BR
S 32 T 56 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF GAY BR
S 32 T 56 N R 36 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF BEE CR
S 3 T 55 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: US 59 CST ATCHISON ST
S 20 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: US 36
S 22 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229 IS 229
S 29 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: WOLFPEN CR
S 5 T 55 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: MUDDY CR
S 647 T 57 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: LP 29
S 20 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PLATTE RVR
S 16 T 55 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BELCHER BR
S 16 T 55 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: MALDEN CR
S 6 T 55 N R 33 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229 CST 4TH ST CS
S 17 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229
S 35 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: MO 759 BNSF RR
S 20 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: THIRD FK PLATTE RV
S 24 T 57 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: BR OF BEE CR
S 32 T 56 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: LOST CR
S 11 T 55 N R 37 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: US 59
S 8 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 229
S 34 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: CST 28TH ST
S 21 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: CST 28TH ST
S 21 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: US 169
S 23 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: RP TO IS 229 SB
S 20 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: IS 29
S 14 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: PUCKETT SLU
S 2 T 55 N R 37 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: THIRD FK PLATTE RV
S 24 T 57 N R 34 W, Buchanan, MO
Over: CST 22ND ST
S 28 T 57 N R 35 W, Buchanan, MO
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.