County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, MO

118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.1% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 19.5% Poor.

118
Public bridges: 33.1%
Good condition: 19.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Madison 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.

109th
of 115 on Poor share: 19.5%
Poor-condition share: 118
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #109 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 19.5%). Madison County, Missouri contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.1% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 19.5% “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

118

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

33.1%

39 of 118 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.5%

56 of 118 rated 5-6

Poor condition

19.5%

23 of 118 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#109 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.1% (39)

Fair

47.5% (56)

Poor

19.5% (23)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,551 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 19.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 502 crossings a day against 1,980 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

72 of the 118 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 33.1% 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 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MINE LA MOTTE AVE over SALINE CR, built 1931, carries 7,222 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,551 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

22
1930s

16
1940s

7
1950s

6
1960s

16
1970s

6
1980s

7
1990s

14
2000s

10
2010s

9
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1920s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 95 to 104 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 14 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 19.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Perry County	120	27.5%	55%	17.5%	1965
Schuyler County	120	65.8%	30.8%	3.3%	1989
Laclede County	119	31.1%	58.8%	10.1%	1971
Crawford County	118	28.8%	63.6%	7.6%	1970
Madison County (this page)	118	33.1%	47.5%	19.5%	1965
Ripley County	116	33.6%	61.2%	5.2%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (118 bridges here).

Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
Montrose County, CO · 118 bridges
Rabun County, GA · 118 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 118 Good 39 Fair 56 Poor 23

Fair-condition bridges (56)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,551 vehicle crossings a day

61% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (56)

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