Total bridges
227
Public highway bridges in Cole County
County profile · official public datasets
Cole County, MO
227 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.3% rated Good, 63.9% Fair, 8.8% Poor.
- 227
- Public bridges
- 27.3%
- Good condition
- 8.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Cole County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 60th
- of 115 on Poor share
- 8.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 227
- public highway bridges
- 1982
- 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.
Cole County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cole County ranks #60 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.8%). Cole County, Missouri contains 227 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.3% are rated “Good,” 63.9% “Fair,” and 8.8% “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.
Good condition
27.3%
62 of 227 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.9%
145 of 227 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.8%
20 of 227 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#60 of 115
Among Missouri counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 227 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 27.3% (62)
Fair 63.9% (145)
Poor 8.8% (20)
Cole County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60,093 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,005 crossings a day against 4,088 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 227 of 227 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
34.4% of Cole County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
78 of the 227 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 27.3% 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 18.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 54 E over NEIGHORN BR, built 1941, carries 10,929 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 60,093 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Cole County's bridges were built
227 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 3
1900–1909
3 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s 13
1950–1959
13 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
41 bridges
- 1970s 13
1970–1979
13 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
35 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
67 bridges
- 2000s 20
2000–2009
20 bridges
- 2010s 16
2010–2019
16 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 67 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Missouri average (1979).
How Cole County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Missouri counties nearest Cole County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 114 Missouri counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saline County | 230 | 33.9% | 53% | 13% | 1976 |
| Butler County | 227 | 49.3% | 42.3% | 8.4% | 1981 |
| Cole County (this page) | 227 | 27.3% | 63.9% | 8.8% | 1982 |
| Pike County | 225 | 34.7% | 56.9% | 8.4% | 1981 |
| Sullivan County | 224 | 56.3% | 36.6% | 7.1% | 1990 |
| Daviess County | 222 | 27.5% | 48.2% | 24.3% | 1970 |
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 Cole 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 Cole County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MO (227 bridges here).
- Yell County, AR · 227 bridges
- McHenry County, IL · 227 bridges
- LaPorte County, IN · 227 bridges
- Rush County, IN · 227 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1982 here).
- Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
- Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
- Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
- Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (20)
OHIO ST
PoorOver: WEARS CREEK
S 12 T 44 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1970 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 421
HEMSTREET RD
PoorOver: N MOREAU CR
S 26 T 44 N R 13 W, Cole, MO
Built 1930 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100
MO 179 S
PoorOver: ROCK CR
S 9 T 45 N R 13 W, Cole, MO
Built 1936 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 1,452
RT A E
PoorOver: BRUSH CR
S 27 T 43 N R 14 W, Cole, MO
Built 1962 Load: 13.5 t ADT: 157
RT AA S
PoorOver: MOREAU RVR
S 26 T 43 N R 14 W, Cole, MO
Built 1965 Load: 13.5 t ADT: 1,147
FRIENDSHIP RD
PoorOver: HERBRANDT CR
S 6 T 43 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1955 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 125
RT B S
PoorOver: OSAGE RVR
S 1 T 42 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1964 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 3,323
RT D S
PoorOver: N MOREAU CR
S 15 T 44 N R 13 W, Cole, MO
Built 1965 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 1,699
TANNER BRIDGE RD
PoorOver: MOREAU RVR
S 25 T 44 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1960 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 1,671
HIGH ST
PoorOver: WEARS CREEK MISSOURI BL
S 7 T 44 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1949 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 5,685
US 54 E
PoorOver: NEIGHORN BR
S 34 T 44 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1941 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 10,929
MISSOURI BLVD
PoorOver: WEARS CREEK
S 7 T 44 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1900 Load: 27.0 t ADT: 4,339
US 50 E
PoorOver: MOREAU RVR
S 23 T 44 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1960 Load: 29.7 t ADT: 8,956
SCOTT STATION RD
PoorOver: BNSF RR
S 30 T 45 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1991 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 90
ALGOA RD
PoorOver: RISING CREEK
S 19 T 44 N R 10 W, Cole, MO
Built 1955 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 30
W BRAZITO RD
PoorOver: TRIB OF S MOREAU C
S 29 T 43 N R 13 W, Cole, MO
Built 1988 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,033
RT W S
PoorOver: ROCK CR
S 20 T 43 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1958 Load: 34.2 t ADT: 1,751
US 50 W
PoorOver: MOREAU RVR
S 23 T 44 N R 11 W, Cole, MO
Built 1984 Load: 35.1 t ADT: 9,738
RP US50E TO US54E
PoorOver: US 50
S 12 T 44 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1964 Load: 38.7 t ADT: 7,417
STURBRIDGE RD
PoorOver: BR OF GRAYS CREEK
S 32 T 45 N R 12 W, Cole, MO
Built 1997 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 30
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.