County profile · official public datasets

Hickory County, MO

57 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.6% rated Good, 43.9% Fair, 17.5% Poor.

57
Public bridges: 38.6%
Good condition: 17.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

103rd
of 115 on Poor share: 17.5%
Poor-condition share: 57
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Hickory County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hickory County ranks #103 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.5%). Hickory County, Missouri contains 57 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.6% are rated “Good,” 43.9% “Fair,” and 17.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Hickory County

Good condition

38.6%

22 of 57 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.9%

25 of 57 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.5%

10 of 57 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#103 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 57 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.6% (22)

Fair

43.9% (25)

Poor

17.5% (10)

Hickory County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,995 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 400 crossings a day against 313 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 57 of 57 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.4% of Hickory County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

27 of the 57 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 38.6% 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 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 64 E over POMME DE TERRE LK, built 1960, carries 1,972 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,995 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

8
1920s

5
1930s

3
1940s

4
1960s

5
1970s

2
1980s

5
1990s

4
2000s

10
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 11 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Hickory County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hickory County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dent County	75	21.3%	70.7%	8%	1969
Maries County	69	31.9%	52.2%	15.9%	1974
Stone County	64	50%	43.8%	6.3%	1982
Shannon County	63	25.4%	63.5%	11.1%	1961
Hickory County (this page)	57	38.6%	43.9%	17.5%	1968
Carter County	48	25%	68.8%	6.3%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (57 bridges here).

Summit County, CO · 57 bridges
DeSoto County, FL · 57 bridges
Dodge County, GA · 57 bridges
McIntosh County, GA · 57 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 57 Good 22 Fair 25 Poor 10

All bridges (57)

Sort:

Hickory County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hickory County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,995 vehicle crossings a day

47.4% of Hickory County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hickory 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 (57)

COUNTY RD 220

COUNTY RD 160

COUNTY RD 290

COUNTY RD 26

COUNTY RD 355

COUNTY RD 180

MO 82 E

RT AA E

RT D S

MO 254 E

RT P E

MO 123 S

US 54 E

RT P E

US 54 E

COUNTY RD 96

US 54 E

US 54 E

MO 123 S

US 54 E

RT B S

US 54 E

US 54 E

RT J E

COUNTY RD 100

COUNTY RD 64

RT D N

RT U S

COUNTY RD 340

COUNTY RD 11

COUNTY RD 11

COUNTY RD 153

CO RD 310

COUNTY RD 80

RT PP E

US 54 E

S 230TH ST

RT BB S

COUNTY RD 134

COUNTY RD 501

COUNTY RD 96

MO 123 S

COUNTY RD 66

COUNTY RD 98

RT H E

COUNT RD 200

COUNTY RD 275

COUNTY RD 273

COUNTY RD 76

COUNTY RD 281

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