County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, MO

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.2% rated Good, 56.1% Fair, 3.7% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 40.2%
Good condition: 3.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lincoln County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 9%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.7%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #10 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.7%). Lincoln County, Missouri contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.2% are rated “Good,” 56.1% “Fair,” and 3.7% “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 Lincoln County

Good condition

40.2%

76 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.1%

106 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.7%

7 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 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

40.2% (76)

Fair

56.1% (106)

Poor

3.7% (7)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,075 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,868 crossings a day against 2,223 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.

33.3% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

63 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 40.2% 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 42.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

EAST CHERRY ST E over US 61, built 1970, carries 5,573 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,075 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

11
1940s

2
1950s

8
1960s

31
1970s

15
1980s

13
1990s

33
2000s

35
2010s

30
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 8 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lincoln 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
Howell County	189	34.4%	63.5%	2.1%	1966
Webster County	189	45.5%	46%	8.5%	1981
Lincoln County (this page)	189	40.2%	56.1%	3.7%	1987
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 (1987 here).

Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Dane County, WI · avg 1987 · 590 bridges

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

All 189 Good 76 Fair 106 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (76)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,075 vehicle crossings a day

33.3% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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

Good-condition bridges (76)

RT W S

RT J S

US 61 S

RT D S

BARNES RD 350

BLUE GOOSE RD 810

CR 031

N ETHYLN RD 685

FRED NORTON RD

PHELPS LANE

MACKVILLE RD 528

STANEK RD 579W

FRENCHMANS BLUFF

MO 79 S

RT E E

DAVIS RD 538

OLD HWY 79 RD 925

MO 47 S

HARREL RD 630

SILEX RD 511

SOUTH LINCOLN DR S

TOLLGATE RD

MCINTOSH RD 614

HOLMES RD

STANEK RD 579

HOBART RD 250

RT E E

RT U E

FAIRVIEW CH RD 437

SAND RUN RD 711

HALL RD 322

RT C E

ST ALPHONSUS RD275

SHAFER RD

NORTON RD 585

RT V E

GRAVENS ROAD

MARTIN ROAD

Sandy Slough Rd.

GRAVENS RD 817

RT MM E

US 61 N

US 61 S

BOHEMIAN CH RD 597

MO 147 S

MO 79 S

MO 79 S

OLD HWY 79 RD 925

SNYDER RD

EVERSMEYER RD 518

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