County profile · official public datasets

New Madrid County, MO

282 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.2% rated Good, 44.7% Fair, 2.1% Poor.

282
Public bridges: 53.2%
Good condition: 2.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

New Madrid County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 2%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.1%
Poor-condition share: 282
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

New Madrid County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, New Madrid County ranks #2 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.1%). New Madrid County, Missouri contains 282 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.2% are rated “Good,” 44.7% “Fair,” and 2.1% “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

282

Public highway bridges in New Madrid County

Good condition

53.2%

150 of 282 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.7%

126 of 282 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.1%

6 of 282 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 282 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.2% (150)

Fair

44.7% (126)

Poor

2.1% (6)

New Madrid County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,660 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,443 crossings a day against 450 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 282 of 282 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.9% of New Madrid County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

104 of the 282 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 53.2% 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 73.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 55 S over N CUT DTCH, built 1964, carries 10,723 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 14,660 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

9
1940s

17
1950s

29
1960s

39
1970s

15
1980s

10
1990s

47
2000s

44
2010s

55
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 7 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest New Madrid County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for New Madrid County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Adair County	301	60.8%	32.6%	6.6%	1992
Newton County	300	39%	54.3%	6.7%	1978
Macon County	291	42.6%	49.8%	7.6%	1986
Chariton County	288	53.5%	35.1%	11.5%	1976
Platte County	285	38.9%	55.1%	6%	1985
New Madrid County (this page)	282	53.2%	44.7%	2.1%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (282 bridges here).

Daviess County, KY · 282 bridges
Acadia County, LA · 282 bridges
Bastrop County, TX · 282 bridges
Forrest County, MS · 283 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 282 Good 150 Fair 126 Poor 6

All bridges (282)

Sort:

New Madrid County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

New Madrid County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,660 vehicle crossings a day

36.9% of New Madrid County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 73.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How New Madrid 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 (282)

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