County profile · official public datasets

Pemiscot County, MO

206 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.5% rated Good, 56.3% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

206
Public bridges: 34.5%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

62nd
of 115 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 206
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Pemiscot County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pemiscot County ranks #62 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Pemiscot County, Missouri contains 206 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.5% are rated “Good,” 56.3% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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

206

Public highway bridges in Pemiscot County

Good condition

34.5%

71 of 206 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.3%

116 of 206 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

19 of 206 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#62 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 206 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.5% (71)

Fair

56.3% (116)

Poor

9.2% (19)

Pemiscot County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,280 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,120 crossings a day against 1,324 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 206 of 206 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.6% of Pemiscot County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

94 of the 206 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 34.5% 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 44.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 84 E over IS 55, built 1969, carries 9,530 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 21,280 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1920s

7
1930s

20
1940s

4
1950s

9
1960s

28
1970s

27
1980s

4
1990s

36
2000s

38
2010s

20
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Pemiscot County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 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 Pemiscot County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dunklin County	214	43%	50.5%	6.5%	1977
Putnam County	213	48.8%	35.7%	15.5%	1985
Barton County	211	42.2%	47.9%	10%	1977
Caldwell County	208	39.9%	49.5%	10.6%	1975
Pemiscot County (this page)	206	34.5%	56.3%	9.2%	1980
Scotland County	201	35.8%	59.7%	4.5%	1995

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (206 bridges here).

Dale County, AL · 206 bridges
Henry County, IN · 206 bridges
Audubon County, IA · 206 bridges
Bourbon County, KS · 206 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 206 Good 71 Fair 116 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (116)

Sort:

Pemiscot County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pemiscot County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,280 vehicle crossings a day

45.6% of Pemiscot County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pemiscot 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 (116)

COUNTY RD 244

RT B S

RT E E

RT A E

MO 84 E

OR 412 E

RT A E

IS 55 N

RT D N

IS 55 N

IS 55 S

IS 155 S

IS 55 N

US 61 N

IS 55 S

IS 55 N

IS 55 N

COUNTY RD 351

IS 55 S

IS 55 S

RT C S

IS 55 S

IS 155 N

RT P S

IS 55 S

IS 55 N

IS 55 S

IS 55 N

COUNTY RD 563

COUNTY RD 559

COUNTY RD 465

COUNTY RD 445

COUNTY RD 279

COUNTY RD 281

COUNTY RD 283

COUNTY RD 291

COUNTY RD 456

FIELD RD

COUNTY RD 282

COUNTY RD 425

COUNTY RD 221

COUNTY RD 413

IS 55 S

OR 412 E

IS 55 N

RT A W

IS 55 S

IS 55 N

COUNTY RD 232

MO 153 S

Related