County profile · official public datasets

Dallas County, MO

114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.2% rated Good, 52.6% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

114
Public bridges: 41.2%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 114
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Dallas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dallas County ranks #31 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Dallas County, Missouri contains 114 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.2% are rated “Good,” 52.6% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

114

Public highway bridges in Dallas County

Good condition

41.2%

47 of 114 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.6%

60 of 114 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

7 of 114 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.2% (47)

Fair

52.6% (60)

Poor

6.1% (7)

Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,259 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 751 crossings a day against 250 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 114 of 114 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

51 of the 114 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 41.2% 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 38.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 73 S over LITTLE NIANGUA CR, built 1925, carries 2,034 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,259 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

8
1920s

12
1930s

4
1940s

6
1950s

13
1960s

6
1970s

2
1980s

7
1990s

21
2000s

20
2010s

13
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 6 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Dallas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dallas County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Laclede County	119	31.1%	58.8%	10.1%	1971
Crawford County	118	28.8%	63.6%	7.6%	1970
Madison County	118	33.1%	47.5%	19.5%	1965
Ripley County	116	33.6%	61.2%	5.2%	1965
Dallas County (this page)	114	41.2%	52.6%	6.1%	1973
Cedar County	112	24.1%	50.9%	25%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (114 bridges here).

Calhoun County, AR · 114 bridges
Schuyler County, IL · 114 bridges
Brown County, IN · 114 bridges
Morgan County, KY · 114 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 114 Good 47 Fair 60 Poor 7

All bridges (114)

Sort:

Dallas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,259 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 38.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dallas 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

All bridges (114)

FEDERAL RD

GREENTOWN RD

SPRINGFIELD RD

RT MM E

RT E E

NEILL RD

PONY DR

S MAIN ST

RT D E

RT E E

RT F S

FOOSE RD

RT DD E

JONES CREEK RD

MO 32 E

MO 73 S

RT B S

MAPLE ST

RT JJ S

RT K S

RT P S

FOUR MILE RD

MO 32 E

RT PP E

RT K S

RT W S

W MILL ST

NEW HOPE RD

MO 38 E

RT T S

RT EE E

US 65 S

BOWER RD

US 65 S

EAGLE RUN RD

DOUSINBERRY RD

N ATLANTIC

NEILL RD

RT JJ S

HACKBERRY RD

US 65 S

RT D E

RT Y E

OR 65 S

RT D E

RT BB S

US 65 S

US 65 S

RICE SCHOOL RD

RT AA E

Related