County profile · official public datasets

Newton County, MO

300 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39% rated Good, 54.3% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

300
Public bridges: 39%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 300
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Newton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Newton County ranks #38 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Newton County, Missouri contains 300 public highway bridges. Roughly 39% are rated “Good,” 54.3% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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

300

Public highway bridges in Newton County

Good condition

39%

117 of 300 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.3%

163 of 300 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

20 of 300 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 300 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39% (117)

Fair

54.3% (163)

Poor

6.7% (20)

Newton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 91,348 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,567 crossings a day against 2,734 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 300 of 300 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.7% of Newton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

110 of the 300 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 39% 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 25.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 44 W over MO 43 MO 86, built 1956, carries 23,370 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 91,348 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

48
1940s

16
1950s

18
1960s

15
1970s

8
1980s

19
1990s

77
2000s

54
2010s

32
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 77 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Newton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Newton County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Linn County	313	39%	43.5%	17.6%	1980
Callaway County	303	39.3%	54.5%	6.3%	1978
Adair County	301	60.8%	32.6%	6.6%	1992
Newton County (this page)	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (300 bridges here).

DeKalb County, AL · 300 bridges
Christian County, KY · 300 bridges
Washington County, MD · 300 bridges
Dawson County, NE · 300 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 300 Good 117 Fair 163 Poor 20

All bridges (300)

Sort:

Newton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Newton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 91,348 vehicle crossings a day

36.7% of Newton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Newton 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 (300)

FERN DR

ANTELOPE RD

MO 59 S

WALLABY RD

BEECH RD

NORWAY RD

RT W S

PECAN DR

IS 49 S

RT E S

S. R JOSEPH BLVD

OLD SCENIC DR

RT B S

SAGINAW RD

MO 43 S

RT H S

MO 86 E

MO 86 E

MO 43 S

NIGHTHAWK RD

US 60 E

BU 60 E

RT H S

RT D E

STATE LINE RD

STATE LINE RD

MO 86 E

RT E S

COYOTE DR

LP 49 S

RT J E

PARROT RD

MO 86 E

MO 86 E

QUINCE RD

IS 44 W

IS 44 E

OLD HWY 60

IS 44 E

IS 44 W

BETHEL RD

GLENDALE RD

NIGHTHAWK RD

FINCH RD

32ND ST

MCINTOSH CIRCLE

32ND ST

US 60 E

IS 49 N

MO 43 S

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