County profile · official public datasets

Perry County, MO

120 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.5% rated Good, 55% Fair, 17.5% Poor.

120
Public bridges: 27.5%
Good condition: 17.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Perry 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.

102nd
of 115 on Poor share: 17.5%
Poor-condition share: 120
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Perry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Perry County ranks #102 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.5%). Perry County, Missouri contains 120 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.5% are rated “Good,” 55% “Fair,” and 17.5% “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

120

Public highway bridges in Perry County

Good condition

27.5%

33 of 120 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55%

66 of 120 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.5%

21 of 120 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#102 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 120 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

27.5% (33)

Fair

55% (66)

Poor

17.5% (21)

Perry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,321 vehicle crossings a day

That is 25.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,682 crossings a day against 1,431 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 120 of 120 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70% of Perry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 120 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 27.5% 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 38% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 51 S over IS 55, built 1970, carries 13,435 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 35,321 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

4
1930s

16
1940s

13
1950s

18
1960s

11
1970s

18
1980s

5
1990s

9
2000s

8
2010s

7
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 14 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Perry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Perry County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Christian County	121	41.3%	51.2%	7.4%	1978
Schuyler County	120	65.8%	30.8%	3.3%	1989
Perry County (this page)	120	27.5%	55%	17.5%	1965
Laclede County	119	31.1%	58.8%	10.1%	1971
Crawford County	118	28.8%	63.6%	7.6%	1970
Madison County	118	33.1%	47.5%	19.5%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (120 bridges here).

Matanuska-Susitna County, AK · 120 bridges
Indian River County, FL · 120 bridges
Sanders County, MT · 120 bridges
Chaves County, NM · 120 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 120 Good 33 Fair 66 Poor 21

Fair-condition bridges (66)

Sort:

Perry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Perry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,321 vehicle crossings a day

70% of Perry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 38% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Perry 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 (66)

COUNTY RD 212

COUNTY RD 916

COUNTY RD 424

COUNTY RD 930

COUNTY RD 838

COUNTY RD 614

COUNTY RD 216

COUNTY RD 458

RT C S

COUNTY RD 422

COUNTY RD 600

COUNTY RD 922

RT B S

RT K S

COUNTY RD 854

COUNTY RD 316

COUNTY RD 300

COUNTY RD 718

RT K S

COUNTY RD 914

COUNTY RD 862

RT C S

COUNTY RD 454

COUNTY RD 408

RT M S

COUNTY RD 343

RT F E

COUNTY RD 930

COUNTY RD 840

COUNTY RD 446

COUNTY RD 430

COUNTY RD 738

RT B S

RT H E

COUNTY RD 854

COUNTY RD 702

COUNTY RD 538

RT F E

COUNTY RD 343

US 61 S

IS 55 S

IS 55 N

COUNTY RD 330

RT O E

COUNTY RD 330

IS 55 N

RT J E

COUNTY RD 819

COUNTY RD 630

RT D E

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