County profile · official public datasets

Montgomery County, MO

163 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.8% rated Good, 65% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

163
Public bridges: 28.8%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Montgomery County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 163
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montgomery County ranks #30 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Montgomery County, Missouri contains 163 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.8% are rated “Good,” 65% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

163

Public highway bridges in Montgomery County

Good condition

28.8%

47 of 163 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65%

106 of 163 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

10 of 163 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#30 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 163 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.8% (47)

Fair

65% (106)

Poor

6.1% (10)

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,465 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 247 crossings a day against 1,508 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 163 of 163 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.5% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

66 of the 163 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 28.8% 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 37.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 161 S over ELKHORN CR, built 1932, carries 924 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,465 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

3
1930s

12
1940s

5
1950s

13
1960s

25
1970s

10
1980s

24
1990s

32
2000s

20
2010s

12
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Montgomery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Montgomery County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
St. Francois County	165	38.2%	51.5%	10.3%	1968
Randolph County	163	60.1%	36.8%	3.1%	1984
Montgomery County (this page)	163	28.8%	65%	6.1%	1979
Andrew County	162	38.9%	46.3%	14.8%	1984
Texas County	162	26.5%	66%	7.4%	1963
Dade County	161	36.6%	58.4%	5%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (163 bridges here).

Mercer County, IL · 163 bridges
Jennings County, IN · 163 bridges
Wayne County, IA · 163 bridges
Jackson County, LA · 163 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 163 Good 47 Fair 106 Poor 10

All bridges (163)

Sort:

RT EE S

Fair

Over: WARDENS BR

S 18 T 46 N R 5 W, Montgomery, MO

Built 1961 Load: 51.3 t ADT: 216

PRAIRIE FORK RD

Fair

Over: PRAIRIE FK CR

S 16 T 47 N R 6 W, Montgomery, MO

Built 1989 Load: 61.2 t ADT: 50

RT V E

Fair

Over: BIG WOLF CR

S 19 T 49 N R 4 W, Montgomery, MO

Built 1991 Load: 69.3 t ADT: 933

PRAIRIE FORK RD

Fair

Over: COLE CR

S 17 T 47 N R 6 W, Montgomery, MO

Built 1996 Load: 72.0 t ADT: 50

LEACH BRANCH RD

Fair

Over: CREEK

S 1 T 46 N R 6 W, Montgomery, MO

Built 1996 Load: 72.0 t ADT: 50

TWO MILE BRANCH RD

Fair

Over: TWO MILE BR

S 14 T 49 N R 5 W, Montgomery, MO

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,465 vehicle crossings a day

40.5% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montgomery 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 (163)

RT EE S

PRAIRIE FORK RD

RT V E

PRAIRIE FORK RD

LEACH BRANCH RD

TWO MILE BRANCH RD

SWOPE SCHOOL RD

ROCK RD

LAGERMAN RD

SCHOOL HOUSE RD

ROPPEL RD

RT F S

OLD ROCK RD

RT CC E

RT AC S

RED BARN RD

CHEROKEE RD

BELLVILLE RD

MO 161 S

RT JJ E

PACKARD RD

ALLISON RD

OLD WMSBERG RD

WYATT RD

GREEN HILLS RD

WHITE RD

BUSH RD

RT AA S

MILL POND RD

MO 161 S

RT P S

OLD WMSBERG RD

SAILOR ROAD

LIT LOUTRE CR RD

MO 161 S

MO 19 S

GLAZIER TRAIL RD

SHORT RD

RT B E

IS 70 E

GOULDMAN RD

IS 70 W

MO 19 S

RT N S

MORRIS RD

OLD WILLIAMSBRG RD

MO 19 S

WHETSTONE RD

WELLS RD

OLD BISHOP RD

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