County profile · official public datasets

Gasconade County, MO

143 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.2% rated Good, 62.9% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

143
Public bridges: 32.2%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 17%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 143
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Gasconade County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gasconade County ranks #20 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Gasconade County, Missouri contains 143 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.2% are rated “Good,” 62.9% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

143

Public highway bridges in Gasconade County

Good condition

32.2%

46 of 143 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.9%

90 of 143 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

7 of 143 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 143 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32.2% (46)

Fair

62.9% (90)

Poor

4.9% (7)

Gasconade County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,147 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,021 crossings a day against 645 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 143 of 143 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.9% of Gasconade County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 143 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 32.2% 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 32.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 50 E over GASCONADE RVR, built 1979, carries 2,347 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 7,147 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

4
1920s

2
1930s

20
1940s

6
1950s

23
1960s

18
1970s

12
1980s

14
1990s

7
2000s

12
2010s

19
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 7 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Gasconade County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gasconade County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
McDonald County	145	25.5%	63.4%	11%	1976
Gasconade County (this page)	143	32.2%	62.9%	4.9%	1972
Miller County	142	40.1%	49.3%	10.6%	1971
St. Clair County	139	25.2%	55.4%	19.4%	1972
Ralls County	138	31.9%	60.9%	7.2%	1976
Mercer County	137	44.5%	36.5%	19%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (143 bridges here).

Franklin County, AR · 143 bridges
San Francisco County, CA · 143 bridges
Woodson County, KS · 143 bridges
Adair County, KY · 143 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 143 Good 46 Fair 90 Poor 7

All bridges (143)

Sort:

Gasconade County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gasconade County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,147 vehicle crossings a day

55.9% of Gasconade County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gasconade 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 (143)

KUHNE RD

COLES CREEK RD

OLD STATE RD

RT Y E

MO 19 N

GUTENBERG ST

RT B N

RT B S

RT Y E

RT CC E

RT B S

FRENE CREEK RD

RT A S

RT J E

RT OO E

RT J E

OLD IRON RD

MO 19 S

RT A S

RT V E

MO 100 E

LAHMEYER RD

US 50 E

MO 19 S

S BLUE PRIDE DR

VAN DEVEN RD

RT H S

US 50 E

US 50 E

RT EE S

MO 100 E

RT H S

MO 19 S

MO 19 S

MO 28 E

BRICK CHURCH RD

US 50 E

MO 19 S

RT EE S

MO 28 E

SCHEEL RD

HOG TROUGH RD

MO 28 E

RT P S

RT A S

BAXTER RD

ESTES RD

PUMP STATION RD

RT H S

RIVER RD

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