Total bridges
114
Public highway bridges in Dallas County
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.
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.
When Dallas County's bridges were built
114 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 8
1900–1909
8 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
13 bridges
- 1960s 6
1960–1969
6 bridges
- 1970s 2
1970–1979
2 bridges
- 1980s 7
1980–1989
7 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
20 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (114)
REDTOP RD
GoodOver: WILSON CR
S 28 T 32 N R 20 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1928 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 500
BENTON BRANCH RD
GoodOver: NIANGUA RVR
S 6 T 34 N R 18 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2012 Load: 50.4 t ADT: 50
JASPER RD
GoodOver: INDIAN CR
S 6 T 34 N R 18 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2009 Load: 57.6 t ADT: 30
HICO RD
GoodOver: NIANGUA RIVER
S 22 T 33 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2015 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 50
PROSPERITY RD
GoodOver: LIT NIANGUA CR
S 6 T 36 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2012 Load: 63.0 t ADT: 25
HAYES RD
GoodOver: GREASY CREEK
S 6 T 33 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2017 Load: 72.0 t ADT: 20
IRON BRIDGE RD
GoodOver: DOUSINBURY CR
S 11 T 33 N R 18 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2007 Load: 77.4 t ADT: 250
PARK ACCESS RD
PoorOver: BENNETT SPR BR
S 36 T 35 N R 18 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1900 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 1,000
RT C E
PoorOver: LINDLEY CR
S 6 T 34 N R 20 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1961 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 491
MO 64 E
PoorOver: NIANGUA RVR
S 25 T 35 N R 18 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1931 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 968
E MAIN ST
PoorOver: GREASY CR
S 30 T 34 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1949 Load: 18.9 t ADT: 100
RT D E
PoorOver: THOMAS CR
S 23 T 36 N R 20 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1974 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 641
MO 73 S
PoorOver: LITTLE NIANGUA CR
S 21 T 36 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 1925 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 2,034
ENGLE LANE
PoorOver: GREASY CR
S 20 T 34 N R 19 W, Dallas, MO
Built 2017 Load: 68.4 t ADT: 25
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.