Total bridges
233
Public highway bridges in Lawrence County
County profile · official public datasets
Lawrence County, MO
233 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.4% rated Good, 42.1% Fair, 11.6% Poor.
- 233
- Public bridges
- 46.4%
- Good condition
- 11.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lawrence 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.
- 86th
- of 115 on Poor share
- 11.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 233
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lawrence County ranks #86 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.6%). Lawrence County, Missouri contains 233 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.4% are rated “Good,” 42.1% “Fair,” and 11.6% “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.
Good condition
46.4%
108 of 233 rated 7-9
Fair condition
42.1%
98 of 233 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.6%
27 of 233 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#86 of 115
Among Missouri counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 233 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 46.4% (108)
Fair 42.1% (98)
Poor 11.6% (27)
Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,301 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,270 crossings a day against 3,116 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 233 of 233 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
52.4% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
122 of the 233 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 46.4% 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 33.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 60 E over MNA RR, built 1961, carries 11,513 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 34,301 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lawrence County's bridges were built
233 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1900s 5
1900–1909
5 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
23 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
40 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s 9
1950–1959
9 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
30 bridges
- 1970s 2
1970–1979
2 bridges
- 1980s 10
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
32 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
28 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
22 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 8 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.
How Lawrence County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Missouri counties nearest Lawrence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 114 Missouri counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette County | 238 | 31.9% | 65.5% | 2.5% | 1980 |
| DeKalb County | 237 | 35% | 56.5% | 8.4% | 1985 |
| Lawrence County (this page) | 233 | 46.4% | 42.1% | 11.6% | 1971 |
| Saline County | 230 | 33.9% | 53% | 13% | 1976 |
| Butler County | 227 | 49.3% | 42.3% | 8.4% | 1981 |
| Cole County | 227 | 27.3% | 63.9% | 8.8% | 1982 |
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 Lawrence 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 Lawrence County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MO (233 bridges here).
- Pickens County, AL · 233 bridges
- Washington County, IL · 233 bridges
- Oswego County, NY · 233 bridges
- Mayes County, OK · 233 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (108)
BU 60 E
GoodOver: DOUGER BR
S 12 T 26 N R 26 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 1924 Load: 54.0 t ADT: 4,070
COUNTY RD 1165
GoodOver: WILLIAMS CR
S 34 T 28 N R 26 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2010 Load: 56.7 t ADT: 30
COUNTY RD 2007
GoodOver: SYCAMORE CR
S 3 T 29 N R 26 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 1999 Load: 63.9 t ADT: 15
COUNTY RD 1050
GoodOver: TRIB CLEAR CR
S 26 T 26 N R 28 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2015 Load: 65.7 t ADT: 200
IS 44 E
GoodOver: MO 96
S 26 T 29 N R 25 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2020 Load: 65.7 t ADT: 32,600
CRD 2180
GoodOver: HONEY CR
S 27 T 27 N R 25 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2023 Load: 66.6 t ADT: 50
COUNTY RD 1152
GoodOver: TRUITT CR
S 4 T 28 N R 26 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2005 Load: 96.3 t ADT: 25
COUNTY RD 1082
GoodOver: TRIB SPRING RVR
S 19 T 28 N R 27 W, Lawrence, MO
Built 2004 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 20
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.