County profile · official public datasets

Cooper County, MO

193 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.7% rated Good, 46.1% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

193
Public bridges: 49.7%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cooper County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 193
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Cooper County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cooper County ranks #13 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Cooper County, Missouri contains 193 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.7% are rated “Good,” 46.1% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

193

Public highway bridges in Cooper County

Good condition

49.7%

96 of 193 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.1%

89 of 193 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

8 of 193 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 193 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

49.7% (96)

Fair

46.1% (89)

Poor

4.1% (8)

Cooper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,675 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 209 crossings a day against 622 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 193 of 193 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.1% of Cooper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

62 of the 193 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 49.7% 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 44.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BILLINGSVILLE RD over BR OF PETITE SALIN, built 1965, carries 750 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,675 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

8
1940s

3
1950s

18
1960s

22
1970s

4
1980s

9
1990s

50
2000s

50
2010s

17
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 6 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Cooper County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cooper County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	197	29.9%	64%	6.1%	1968
Cooper County (this page)	193	49.7%	46.1%	4.1%	1985
Atchison County	191	58.1%	32.5%	9.4%	1985
Howell County	189	34.4%	63.5%	2.1%	1966
Lincoln County	189	40.2%	56.1%	3.7%	1987
Webster County	189	45.5%	46%	8.5%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (193 bridges here).

Jo Daviess County, IL · 193 bridges
Cecil County, MD · 193 bridges
Blue Earth County, MN · 193 bridges
Jasper County, MS · 193 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 193 Good 96 Fair 89 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (89)

Sort:

Cooper County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cooper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,675 vehicle crossings a day

32.1% of Cooper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cooper 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 (89)

BUFFALO PRAIRIE DR

RIVER VIEW DR

TIPTON DR

IS 70 W

IS 70 E

RT BB S

RT B S

TURTLE CREEK RD

LONG DR

RT A S

TWENTER WAY

ROUND HILL DR

MO 41 S

RT BB S

MO 5 S

RT AA E

TUTTLE RD

TUTTLE RD

MO 5 S

US 40 E

BELLAIR RD

MO 135 S

LONE ELM RD

MO 5 S

PRAIRIE LICK RD

ROCHEPORT RD

BLUE BIRD RD

MO 87 S

MO 87 S

PRAIRIE RD

MO 5 S

RT M S

RT U S

IS 70 W

RT O S

IS 70 E

BRUMBACK RD

TWENTER WAY DR

ROBERTS DR

Related