County profile · official public datasets

Howard County, MO

133 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.1% rated Good, 49.6% Fair, 8.3% Poor.

133
Public bridges: 42.1%
Good condition: 8.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Howard County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.3%
Poor-condition share: 133
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Howard County ranks #51 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Howard County, Missouri contains 133 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.1% are rated “Good,” 49.6% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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

133

Public highway bridges in Howard County

Good condition

42.1%

56 of 133 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.6%

66 of 133 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.3%

11 of 133 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 133 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.1% (56)

Fair

49.6% (66)

Poor

8.3% (11)

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,056 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 460 crossings a day against 383 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 133 of 133 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.1% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 133 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 42.1% 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 32.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 3 S over KSC RR, built 1941, carries 1,661 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,056 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

4
1950s

12
1960s

18
1970s

6
1980s

9
1990s

31
2000s

21
2010s

16
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Howard County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Howard County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Benton County	135	11.9%	67.4%	20.7%	1964
Howard County (this page)	133	42.1%	49.6%	8.3%	1980
Wright County	131	21.4%	67.2%	11.5%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (133 bridges here).

Henry County, AL · 133 bridges
Nevada County, AR · 133 bridges
Gordon County, GA · 133 bridges
East Feliciana County, LA · 133 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 133 Good 56 Fair 66 Poor 11

All bridges (133)

Sort:

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,056 vehicle crossings a day

39.1% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Howard 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 (133)

COUNTY RD 320

COUNTY RD 109

COUNTY RD 327

COUNTY RD 306

SECOND ST

COUNTY RD 118

COUNTY RD 427

COUNTY RD 309

RT DD S

COUNTY RD 317

COUNTY RD 300

MO 124 E

COUNTY RD 239

COUNTY RD 261

MO 240 E

COUNTY RD 122

COUNTY RD 248

RT J E

MO 240 E

COUNTY RD 123

US 40 E

MO 5 S

RT Y S

MO 87 S

MO 87 S

RT EE E

RT J E

RT U E

RT O E

RT U E

RT W E

COUNTY RD 216

RT J E

MO 240 E

COUNTY RD 247

COUNTY RD 433

COUNTY RD 467

COUNTY RD 328

COUNTY RD 309

RT EE E

RT J E

MO 5 S

US 40 E

COUNTY RD 257

COUNTY RD 241

MO 240 E

RT P E

RT W E

COUNTY RD 323

MO 87 S

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