County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, MO

331 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 56.8% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

331
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Franklin 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 16%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 331
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #18 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Franklin County, Missouri contains 331 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 56.8% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

331

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

38.7%

128 of 331 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.8%

188 of 331 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

15 of 331 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 331 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (128)

Fair

56.8% (188)

Poor

4.5% (15)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 45,155 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,010 crossings a day against 1,462 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 331 of 331 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 331 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 38.7% 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 79.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 44 E over BR OF BOURBEUSE RV, built 1949, carries 35,766 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 45,155 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

6
1940s

5
1950s

27
1960s

33
1970s

21
1980s

24
1990s

75
2000s

82
2010s

39
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 9 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Boone County	334	49.4%	46.7%	3.9%	1984
Harrison County	331	39.6%	39%	21.5%	1981
Franklin County (this page)	331	38.7%	56.8%	4.5%	1988
Bates County	319	22.6%	70.2%	7.2%	1977
Audrain County	314	41.4%	53.8%	4.8%	1987
Linn County	313	39%	43.5%	17.6%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (331 bridges here).

Sebastian County, AR · 331 bridges
Pike County, KY · 331 bridges
Hickman County, TN · 331 bridges
Bowie County, TX · 331 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 331 Good 128 Fair 188 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (188)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 45,155 vehicle crossings a day

29% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (188)

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BOLES RD

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BACON RIDGE RD

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MO 100 E

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