County profile · official public datasets

Cape Girardeau County, MO

374 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.8% rated Good, 59.1% Fair, 5.1% Poor.

374
Public bridges: 35.8%
Good condition: 5.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cape Girardeau County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.1%
Poor-condition share: 374
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Cape Girardeau County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cape Girardeau County ranks #22 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.1%). Cape Girardeau County, Missouri contains 374 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.8% are rated “Good,” 59.1% “Fair,” and 5.1% “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

374

Public highway bridges in Cape Girardeau County

Good condition

35.8%

134 of 374 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.1%

221 of 374 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.1%

19 of 374 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 374 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.8% (134)

Fair

59.1% (221)

Poor

5.1% (19)

Cape Girardeau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,357 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,492 crossings a day against 1,895 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 374 of 374 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.7% of Cape Girardeau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

167 of the 374 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 35.8% 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 24.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 61 S over HUBBLE CR, built 1925, carries 11,660 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 47,357 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

7
1920s

26
1930s

16
1940s

13
1950s

35
1960s

55
1970s

23
1980s

20
1990s

63
2000s

68
2010s

38
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Cape Girardeau County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cape Girardeau County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County	411	33.6%	63%	3.4%	1981
Vernon County	401	35.4%	60.3%	4.2%	1988
Nodaway County	396	48%	37.6%	14.4%	1992
Cass County	377	36.3%	54.9%	8.8%	1983
Cape Girardeau County (this page)	374	35.8%	59.1%	5.1%	1978
Carroll County	371	25.9%	56.1%	18.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (374 bridges here).

Benton County, IA · 374 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · 374 bridges
Rankin County, MS · 374 bridges
Monroe County, WI · 374 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 374 Good 134 Fair 221 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (221)

Sort:

Cape Girardeau County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cape Girardeau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,357 vehicle crossings a day

44.7% of Cape Girardeau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cape Girardeau 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

Fair-condition bridges (221)

US 61 S

RT D S

KINGSWAY DR

COUNTY RD 383

MO 72 E

MO 72 E

RT U S

COUNTY RD 530

US 61 S

MO 72 E

RT K E

RT Y E

E DEERWOOD DR

IS 55 S

COUNTY RD 436

COUNTY RD 525

S OLD ORCHARD RD

RT W S

CAPE ROCK DR

COUNTY RD 327

COUNTY RD 233

JACKSON RIDGE DR

MO 177 S

MO 74 E

MO 74 W

MO 25 S

MO 25 S

MO 25 S

BROADWAY ST

US 61 S

MO 74 E

COUNTY RD 472

RT K E

IS 55 S

RT W S

W WASHINGTON ST

LASALLE AVE

COUNTY RD 610

IS 55 N

IS 55 S

COUNTY RD 532

MO 34 E

MO 34 E

RT A E

LASALLE AVE

RT BB E

MO 177 S

IS 55 S

COUNTY RD 233

RP IS55N TO US61 N

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