County profile · official public datasets

Howell County, MO

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.4% rated Good, 63.5% Fair, 2.1% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 34.4%
Good condition: 2.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Howell County pairs a top-1% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 1%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.1%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Howell County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Howell County ranks #1 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.1%). Howell County, Missouri contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.4% are rated “Good,” 63.5% “Fair,” and 2.1% “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.

Total bridges

189

Public highway bridges in Howell County

Good condition

34.4%

65 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.5%

120 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.1%

4 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.4% (65)

Fair

63.5% (120)

Poor

2.1% (4)

Howell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,409 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,352 crossings a day against 2,523 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 189 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63% of Howell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

119 of the 189 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 34.4% 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 57.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 63 S over BNSF RR, built 1955, carries 7,737 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,409 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

12
1930s

34
1940s

9
1950s

31
1960s

28
1970s

12
1980s

7
1990s

14
2000s

29
2010s

10
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 13 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Howell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 18 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Howell County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Atchison County	191	58.1%	32.5%	9.4%	1985
Lincoln County	189	40.2%	56.1%	3.7%	1987
Webster County	189	45.5%	46%	8.5%	1981
Howell County (this page)	189	34.4%	63.5%	2.1%	1966
Grundy County	187	54%	34.8%	11.2%	1992
Marion County	186	37.1%	53.8%	9.1%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Chase County, KS · 189 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 189 Good 65 Fair 120 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (120)

Sort:

Howell County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Howell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,409 vehicle crossings a day

63% of Howell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Howell 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 (120)

COUNTY RD 3730

COUNTY RD 1320

COUNTY RD 8890

COUNTY RD 6070

RT YY S

COUNTY RD 9720

COUNTY RD 4740

COUNTY RD 3010

COUNTY RD 6540

COUNTY RD 8240

COUNTY RD 8390

US 160 W

COUNTY RD 8110

RT RA S

RT AM E

MO 142 E

RT EE E

RT P E

RT P E

RT P E

RT AP S

COUNTY RD 2000

COUNTY RD 8160

COUNTY RD 8970

COUNTY RD 9800

COUNTY RD 9720

COUNTY RD 9720

COUNTY RD 6390

COUNTY RD 6970

COUNTY RD 6420

HOWELL ST

PINE GROVE RD

COUNTY RD 2570

COUNTY RD 1710

COUNTY RD 2730

COUNTY RD 2570

COUNTY RD 8120

COUNTY RD 8270

COUNTY RD 4280

RT KK E

RT W S

US 60 W

RT PP S

RT F E

RT AP S

MO 137 S

MO 142 E

RT N E

RT U S

US 60 W

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