County profile · official public datasets

Clark County, MO

178 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.2% rated Good, 53.9% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

178
Public bridges: 38.2%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clark County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 178
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Clark County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clark County ranks #49 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Clark County, Missouri contains 178 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.2% are rated “Good,” 53.9% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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

178

Public highway bridges in Clark County

Good condition

38.2%

68 of 178 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.9%

96 of 178 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

14 of 178 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 178 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.2% (68)

Fair

53.9% (96)

Poor

7.9% (14)

Clark County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,108 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 365 crossings a day against 1,057 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 178 of 178 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.8% of Clark County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 178 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 38.2% 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 52.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 136 E over DRAIN DTCH, built 1968, carries 2,670 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,108 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

6
1920s

3
1930s

15
1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

6
1970s

5
1980s

19
1990s

33
2000s

54
2010s

23
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 7 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Clark County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 11 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clark County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Livingston County	185	34.1%	50.3%	15.7%	1978
Polk County	185	31.9%	47.6%	20.5%	1966
Ray County	185	36.2%	51.4%	12.4%	1977
Scott County	182	39.6%	53.8%	6.6%	1978
Monroe County	178	29.8%	55.6%	14.6%	1974
Clark County (this page)	178	38.2%	53.9%	7.9%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (178 bridges here).

Allen County, LA · 178 bridges
Webster County, MS · 178 bridges
Ontario County, NY · 178 bridges
Moore County, NC · 178 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 178 Good 68 Fair 96 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (68)

Sort:

Clark County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clark County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,108 vehicle crossings a day

25.8% of Clark County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clark 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

Good-condition bridges (68)

COUNTY RD 158

COUNTY RD 076

COUNTY RD 344

COUNTY RD 287

COUNTY RD 168

COUNTY RD 326

COUNTY RD 32

COUNTY RD 036

COUNTY RD 312

COUNTY RD 319

RT NN E

COUNTY RD 304

COUNTY RD 55

COUNTY RD 132

COUNTY RD 138

CRD 119

RT AA N

COUNTY RD 326

COUNTY RD 214

COUNTY RD 358

US 61 S

RT D E

RT D E

COUNTY RD 184

RT K N

COUNTY RD 151

RT AA S

COUNTY RD 62

RT A S

US 136 E

COUNTY RD 29

MO 81 S

US 61 N

COUNTY RD 055

MO 27 N

US 61 S

US 61 N

RT Y E

COUNTY RD 162

306 S

MO 27 N

MO 27 S

COUNTY RD 118

US 136 E

US 61 S

COUNTY RD 144

COUNTY RD 276

US 61 N

COUNTY RD 019

COUNTY RD 027

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