County profile · official public datasets

Macon County, MO

291 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.6% rated Good, 49.8% Fair, 7.6% Poor.

291
Public bridges
42.6%
Good condition
7.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Macon County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 40%
lowest Poor share in state
7.6%
Poor-condition share
291
public highway bridges
1986
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.

Macon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Macon County ranks #46 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.6%). Macon County, Missouri contains 291 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.6% are rated “Good,” 49.8% “Fair,” and 7.6% “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.

Total bridges

291

Public highway bridges in Macon County

Good condition

42.6%

124 of 291 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.8%

145 of 291 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.6%

22 of 291 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 291 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
42.6% (124)
Fair
49.8% (145)
Poor
7.6% (22)

Macon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,083 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 686 crossings a day against 650 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 291 of 291 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.7% of Macon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

72 of the 291 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 42.6% 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 83.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 63 S over US 36, built 1971, carries 12,582 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,083 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Macon County's bridges were built

291 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 79 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 7 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Macon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Macon County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Adair County 301 6.6%
Newton County 300 6.7%
Macon County (this page) 291 7.6%
Chariton County 288 11.5%
Platte County 285 6%
New Madrid County 282 2.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (291 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1986 here).

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

All 291 Good 124 Fair 145 Poor 22

Poor-condition bridges (22)

ADMIRAL PL

Poor

Over: UNNAMED STR

S 29 T 60 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1940 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 5

MICHIGAN ST

Poor

Over: UNNAMED CR

S 18 T 58 N R 13 W, Macon, MO

Built 1925 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15

CRYSTAL AVE

Poor

Over: BNSF RR

S 35 T 59 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1920 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 10

AQUA ST

Poor

Over: MUSSEL FK

S 6 T 57 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1989 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 20

FALCON ST

Poor

Over: STINKING CR

S 24 T 56 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1960 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 5

LINN ST

Poor

Over: UNNAMED STR

S 15 T 57 N R 15 W, Macon, MO

Built 1938 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 100

MELODY AVE

Poor

Over: MID FK SALT RVR

S 36 T 58 N R 14 W, Macon, MO

Built 1987 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 30

DOE PL

Poor

Over: UNNAMED BR

S 7 T 58 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1988 Load: 6.3 t ADT: 20

CARAVAN AVE

Poor

Over: BR OF WALNUT CR

S 14 T 60 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1935 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 10

OLD HWY 36

Poor

Over: BNSF RR

S 17 T 57 N R 15 W, Macon, MO

Built 1925 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 35

RT J E

Poor

Over: MUSSEL FK

S 6 T 59 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1958 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 127

RT J E

Poor

Over: E FK CHARITON RVR

S 13 T 59 N R 15 W, Macon, MO

Built 1930 Load: 9.9 t ADT: 790

RT PP E

Poor

Over: MID FK SALT RVR

S 30 T 57 N R 13 W, Macon, MO

Built 1958 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 824

RT VV S

Poor

Over: BNSF RR

S 9 T 58 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1929 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 64

OLD HWY 36

Poor

Over: MID FK CHARITON RV

S 17 T 57 N R 15 W, Macon, MO

Built 1925 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 35

RT F S

Poor

Over: LIT TURKEY CR

S 17 T 59 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1960 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 81

FOREST ST

Poor

Over: UNNAMED BR

S 1 T 57 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1987 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 35

NORTHRIDGE RD

Poor

Over: UNNAMED STR

S 27 T 59 N R 13 W, Macon, MO

Built 1987 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 10

RT UU S

Poor

Over: BNSF RR

S 12 T 57 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1947 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 160

OLD HWY 36

Poor

Over: SAND BR

S 12 T 57 N R 16 W, Macon, MO

Built 1924 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 100

US 63 S

Poor

Over: US 36

S 9 T 57 N R 14 W, Macon, MO

Built 1971 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 12,582

BRIMSTONE RD

Poor

Over: LIT BRUSH CR

S 9 T 57 N R 17 W, Macon, MO

Built 1997 Load: 36.9 t ADT: 25

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.