County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, MO

930 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.2% rated Good, 52.5% Fair, 5.4% Poor.

930
Public bridges: 42.2%
Good condition: 5.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.4%
Poor-condition share: 930
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #27 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.4%). Jackson County, Missouri contains 930 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.2% are rated “Good,” 52.5% “Fair,” and 5.4% “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

930

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

42.2%

392 of 930 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.5%

488 of 930 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.4%

50 of 930 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 930 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.2% (392)

Fair

52.5% (488)

Poor

5.4% (50)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 521,373 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,427 crossings a day against 12,739 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 929 of 930 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.3% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

375 of the 930 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 42.2% 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 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 435 S over GRAVE CR, built 1964, carries 94,457 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 50-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 521,373 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

10
1910s

10
1920s

14
1930s

23
1940s

21
1950s

75
1960s

163
1970s

101
1980s

102
1990s

129
2000s

156
2010s

84
2020s

41

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 163 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 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County (this page)	930	42.2%	52.5%	5.4%	1982
St. Louis County	912	29.9%	64.7%	5.4%	1987
Greene County	493	44.6%	50.1%	5.3%	1978
Johnson County	476	39.3%	56.3%	4.4%	1975
Jasper County	471	42%	46.9%	11%	1978
Clay County	436	38.1%	55%	6.9%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (930 bridges here).

Hennepin County, MN · 936 bridges
Franklin County, OH · 922 bridges
Fresno County, CA · 916 bridges
Erie County, NY · 906 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 930 Good 392 Fair 488 Poor 50

All bridges (930)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 521,373 vehicle crossings a day

40.3% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (930)

PVT OVERPASS S

NORWOOD ST

LAKE CITY VALLY RD

OWENS SCHOOL ROAD

SAMPSON RD

MO 150 E

TOPPING AVE S

RT H S

RT H S

E 63RD ST E

ATHERTON-SIBLEY

LAKE CITY-BUCKNER

HOWELL RD

BARATE AVE

LIT BLUE PARKWAY

WILSON RD

PHELPS RD

BEACH RD

DICK HOWSER DR

MCCLENDON DR

BUCKNER-TARSNEY RD

BUCKNER-TARSNEY RD

PERDUE RD

CORN RD

CAVE RD

WOODSON RD

SMART RD

CARLISLE AVE

PASEO SBL

PASEO NBL

E 95TH TER

59TH ST

US 24 W

W MAIN ST

12TH ST

LEFHOLZ RD S

NE INDUST TFWY

INDIANA AVE

ATHERTON-SIBLEY

W 27TH ST E

WESTRIDGE RD

118TH ST

E WINNER RD

INDEPENDENCE AVE

15TH ST

BLUE RIDGE BLVD

FOOD LN

SYCAMORE ST

HIGHGROVE RD EBL

HIGHGROVE RD WBL

Related