County profile · official public datasets

Mississippi County, MO

99 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.3% rated Good, 62.6% Fair, 11.1% Poor.

99
Public bridges: 26.3%
Good condition: 11.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Mississippi 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.

81st
of 115 on Poor share: 11.1%
Poor-condition share: 99
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Mississippi County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mississippi County ranks #81 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Mississippi County, Missouri contains 99 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.3% are rated “Good,” 62.6% “Fair,” and 11.1% “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 Mississippi County

Good condition

26.3%

26 of 99 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.6%

62 of 99 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.1%

11 of 99 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 99 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.3% (26)

Fair

62.6% (62)

Poor

11.1% (11)

Mississippi County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,727 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 884 crossings a day against 328 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 99 of 99 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.6% of Mississippi County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

61 of the 99 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 26.3% 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 57.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 62 E over IS 57, built 1972, carries 5,588 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 9,727 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

9
1930s

13
1940s

6
1950s

12
1960s

12
1970s

12
1980s

4
1990s

6
2000s

7
2010s

12
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 13.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 10 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Mississippi County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mississippi County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Morgan County	105	28.6%	61%	10.5%	1964
Pulaski County	104	21.2%	68.3%	10.6%	1975
Ste. Genevieve County	104	38.5%	51%	10.6%	1972
Osage County	100	37%	45%	18%	1970
Mississippi County (this page)	99	26.3%	62.6%	11.1%	1969
Moniteau County	93	28%	59.1%	12.9%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (99 bridges here).

Washington County, FL · 99 bridges
Crisp County, GA · 99 bridges
Harris County, GA · 99 bridges
Newton County, GA · 99 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 99 Good 26 Fair 62 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (62)

Sort:

Mississippi County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mississippi County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,727 vehicle crossings a day

61.6% of Mississippi County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mississippi 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 (62)

COUNTY RD 416

COUNTY RD 216

MO 102 E

MO 77 S

RT O E

RT O E

MO 77 S

MO 77 S

MO 77 S

RT DD E

MO 75 S

RT D E

MO 80 E

RT C E

MO 105 S

COUNTY RD 325

COUNTY RD 329

RT B S

MO 80 E

RT D E

RT FF S

US 60 E

MO 80 E

MO 75 S

COUNTY RD 334

COUNTY RD 330

COUNTY RD 416

401 S

RT J S

COUNTY RD 422

RT CC S

COUNTY RD 526

218 E

MO 80 E

IS 57 S

IS 57 N

COUNTY RD 522

IS 57 S

COUNTY RD 219

COUNTY RD 321

COUNTY RD 208

COUNTY RD 518

COUNTY RD 414

COUNTY RD 321

IS 57 S

IS 57 N

MO 105 S

MO 80 E

MO 80 E

IS 57 S

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