County profile · official public datasets

Maries County, MO

69 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.9% rated Good, 52.2% Fair, 15.9% Poor.

69
Public bridges: 31.9%
Good condition: 15.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Maries 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.

101st
of 115 on Poor share: 15.9%
Poor-condition share: 69
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Maries County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Maries County ranks #101 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.9%). Maries County, Missouri contains 69 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.9% are rated “Good,” 52.2% “Fair,” and 15.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Maries County

Good condition

31.9%

22 of 69 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.2%

36 of 69 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.9%

11 of 69 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#101 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 69 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.9% (22)

Fair

52.2% (36)

Poor

15.9% (11)

Maries County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,683 vehicle crossings a day

That is 25.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 789 crossings a day against 430 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 69 of 69 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.2% of Maries County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 69 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 59.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 63 S over GASCONADE RVR, built 1978, carries 5,202 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,683 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

8
1940s

10
1950s

3
1960s

11
1970s

7
1980s

3
1990s

5
2000s

11
2010s

8
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 5 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Maries County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Maries County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Worth County	81	46.9%	33.3%	19.8%	1983
Dent County	75	21.3%	70.7%	8%	1969
Douglas County	75	18.7%	74.7%	6.7%	1963
Maries County (this page)	69	31.9%	52.2%	15.9%	1974
Stone County	64	50%	43.8%	6.3%	1982
Shannon County	63	25.4%	63.5%	11.1%	1961

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (69 bridges here).

Irwin County, GA · 69 bridges
Edwards County, KS · 69 bridges
Barry County, MI · 69 bridges
Bowman County, ND · 69 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 69 Good 22 Fair 36 Poor 11

All bridges (69)

Sort:

Maries County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Maries County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,683 vehicle crossings a day

52.2% of Maries County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Maries 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

All bridges (69)

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