County profile · official public datasets

Lafayette County, MO

238 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.9% rated Good, 65.5% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

238
Public bridges: 31.9%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lafayette County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 238
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.

Lafayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lafayette County ranks #3 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Lafayette County, Missouri contains 238 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.9% are rated “Good,” 65.5% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

238

Public highway bridges in Lafayette County

Good condition

31.9%

76 of 238 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.5%

156 of 238 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

6 of 238 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 238 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.9% (76)

Fair

65.5% (156)

Poor

2.5% (6)

Lafayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,058 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,010 crossings a day against 889 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 238 of 238 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

93 of the 238 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 31.9% 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 60.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 70 E over KCS RR, built 1950, carries 18,206 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 30,058 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

14
1930s

19
1940s

4
1950s

15
1960s

31
1970s

16
1980s

15
1990s

32
2000s

39
2010s

43
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Lafayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 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 Lafayette County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Buchanan County	246	34.1%	58.1%	7.7%	1981
Pettis County	243	43.6%	45.3%	11.1%	1975
St. Louis city County	240	31.3%	58.8%	10%	1982
Lafayette County (this page)	238	31.9%	65.5%	2.5%	1980
DeKalb County	237	35%	56.5%	8.4%	1985
Lawrence County	233	46.4%	42.1%	11.6%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (238 bridges here).

Volusia County, FL · 238 bridges
Huntingdon County, PA · 238 bridges
Buffalo County, WI · 238 bridges
Greene County, IN · 239 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 238 Good 76 Fair 156 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (156)

Sort:

Lafayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lafayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,058 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 60.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lafayette 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 (156)

JENNINGS RD

DUNKSBERG RD

RT FF E

IS 70 W

LITER RD

STARR SCHOOL RD

MO 23 S

IS 70 E

JENNINGS RD

COOKS STORE RD

RT E S

MO 13 S

MO 13 S

IS 70 W

TEXAS PRAIRIE RD

VARNER RD

LIT TABO RD

IS 70 W

BEATTIE RD

SUNNY BANK RD

MO 20 E

LOCKHART RD

DYER ROCK RD

BRANDT RD

MO 213 S

US 24 E

ELM PARK RD

LIT TABO RD

AFEK RD

GILLEN RD

BURR OAK RD

JOHNSON DR

RT TT E

13TH ST S

IS 70 E

COUNTY VIEW RD

LINN GROVE RD

SALT FORK RD

ZION HILL RD

MO 224 E

CATRON RD

IS 70 E

OWL CREEK RD

SMELSER RD

SLUSHER SCHOOL RD

RT E N

MO 224 E

NEWTON RD

GARRISON RD

GOODWIN RD

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