County profile · official public datasets

Morgan County, MO

105 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.6% rated Good, 61% Fair, 10.5% Poor.

105
Public bridges: 28.6%
Good condition: 10.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Morgan 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.

73rd
of 115 on Poor share: 10.5%
Poor-condition share: 105
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morgan County ranks #73 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.5%). Morgan County, Missouri contains 105 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.6% are rated “Good,” 61% “Fair,” and 10.5% “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

105

Public highway bridges in Morgan County

Good condition

28.6%

30 of 105 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61%

64 of 105 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.5%

11 of 105 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#73 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 105 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.6% (30)

Fair

61% (64)

Poor

10.5% (11)

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,523 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 684 crossings a day against 470 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 105 of 105 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

67 of the 105 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 28.6% 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 80.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 5 S over GRAVOIS CREEK, built 1963, carries 6,024 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 7,523 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

31
1940s

1
1950s

8
1960s

16
1970s

9
1980s

5
1990s

10
2000s

4
2010s

13
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 15 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Morgan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Morgan County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Shelby County	108	28.7%	56.5%	14.8%	1977
Morgan County (this page)	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	99	26.3%	62.6%	11.1%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (105 bridges here).

Bradley County, AR · 105 bridges
Fulton County, AR · 105 bridges
Izard County, AR · 105 bridges
Calaveras County, CA · 105 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 105 Good 30 Fair 64 Poor 11

All bridges (105)

Sort:

MO 5 S

Fair

Over: SPRING BR LK OZARK

S 5 T 41 N R 16 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1986 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 4,573

MO 5 S

Fair

Over: CLABBER CREEK

S 31 T 42 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1963 Load: 45.9 t ADT: 4,828

RT J S

Fair

Over: NORTH BRUSHY CREEK

S 12 T 41 N R 18 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1963 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 1,012

RT D S

Fair

Over: BIG BRANCH

S 3 T 44 N R 18 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1966 Load: 49.5 t ADT: 576

MO 5 S

Fair

Over: SOAP CREEK

S 32 T 41 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 2011 Load: 49.5 t ADT: 4,573

RT W S

Fair

Over: SQUAW CREEK

S 22 T 42 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1965 Load: 51.3 t ADT: 1,454

RT C E

Fair

Over: BURRIS FORK BRANCH

S 36 T 43 N R 16 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1989 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 1,389

MO 5 S

Fair

Over: MILL CREEK

S 5 T 40 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1932 Load: 55.8 t ADT: 4,703

RT AA S

Fair

Over: ROUTON HOLLOW

S 4 T 41 N R 16 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1967 Load: 63.0 t ADT: 808

MO 52 E

Fair

Over: MIDDLE CREEK

S 6 T 42 N R 18 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1977 Load: 71.1 t ADT: 4,775

MO 52 E

Fair

Over: STRAIGHT FORK CREE

S 1 T 42 N R 18 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1922 Load: 81.9 t ADT: 8,114

MO 5 S

Fair

Over: BRIDGES BRANCH

S 21 T 44 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1938 Load: 91.8 t ADT: 3,890

RT T S

Fair

Over: STRAIGHT FORK MORE

S 21 T 44 N R 17 W, Morgan, MO

Built 1995 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 981

RT BB S

Fair

Over: GABRIEL CREEK

S 13 T 44 N R 19 W, Morgan, MO

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,523 vehicle crossings a day

63.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Morgan 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 (105)

MO 5 S

MO 5 S

RT J S

RT D S

MO 5 S

RT W S

RT C E

MO 5 S

RT AA S

MO 52 E

MO 52 E

MO 5 S

RT T S

RT BB S

GLENSTED RD

CACTUS RD

SHORT RD

KELSAY RD

RT PP E

BLACKBERRY PTCH RD

RT T S

RT TT S

RT BB S

BUFFALO RD

BUTTERFIELD TRAIL

RT J S

MO 52 E

INDIAN CREEK LN

COFFEE RD

RT JJ S

RT BB S

WHIPPERWILL RD

CRYSTAL RD

OLD FIVE RD

MO 5 S

BEARD CREEK RD

MCCASLAND RD

MEADOW BROOK RD

SEALS RD

POTTERS FORD RD

HARRISON RD

SIMS RD

RT AA S

OLD FIVE ROAD

FLORENCE TRAIL RD

SMITH CREEK RD

RITCHIE RD

PYRMONT RD

LIT BUFFALO RD

BEARD LANE

Related