County profile · official public datasets

Phelps County, MO

156 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.2% rated Good, 63.5% Fair, 8.3% Poor.

156
Public bridges: 28.2%
Good condition: 8.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Phelps County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.3%
Poor-condition share: 156
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Phelps County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Phelps County ranks #52 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Phelps County, Missouri contains 156 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.2% are rated “Good,” 63.5% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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

156

Public highway bridges in Phelps County

Good condition

28.2%

44 of 156 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.5%

99 of 156 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.3%

13 of 156 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 156 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.2% (44)

Fair

63.5% (99)

Poor

8.3% (13)

Phelps County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,657 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,589 crossings a day against 1,165 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 156 of 156 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.8% of Phelps County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 156 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 28.2% 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 80.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IS 44 W over BNSF RR LIT PINEY RVR, built 2002, carries 16,698 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 20,657 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

21
1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

5
1940s

3
1950s

15
1960s

27
1970s

12
1980s

9
1990s

16
2000s

26
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 11 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Phelps County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Phelps County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dade County	161	36.6%	58.4%	5%	1972
Washington County	157	33.8%	56.1%	10.2%	1966
Phelps County (this page)	156	28.2%	63.5%	8.3%	1968
Clinton County	152	34.9%	55.3%	9.9%	1983
Taney County	151	31.1%	58.9%	9.9%	1985
Warren County	151	31.8%	64.2%	4%	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 Phelps 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 Phelps County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (156 bridges here).

Holmes County, FL · 156 bridges
Buena Vista County, IA · 156 bridges
Van Buren County, IA · 156 bridges
Evangeline County, LA · 156 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 156 Good 44 Fair 99 Poor 13

All bridges (156)

Sort:

Phelps County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Phelps County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,657 vehicle crossings a day

53.8% of Phelps County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Phelps 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 (156)

JAY ST

WOLF PRIDE DR

TORY AVE

COUNTY RD 8010

COUNTY RD 2450

COUNTY RD 3610

RUCKER AVE

CHESTNUT DR

RT D E

MO 72

COUNTY RD 3000

COUNTY RD 2350

COUNTY RD 3410

COUNTY RD 7360

COUNTRYSIDE DR

COUNTY RD 7050

INDUSTRIAL DR

RT JJ E

RT T S

MO 72 E

MO 8 E

MO 72 E

COUNTY RD 1140

US 63 S

COUNTY RD 8390

COUNTY RD 7630

RT B S

LIONS CLUB DR

OLD HWY 72 S

COUNTY RD 5220

COUNTY RD 4080

COUNTY RD 3570

RT B N

COUNTY RD 8100

HY POINT IND PK DR

COUNTY RD 3620

OR 44 E

COUNTY RD 7100

RT D E

OLD ST JAMES RD

ELM ST

COUNTY RD 1050

COUNTY RD 3570

COUNTY RD 3620

COUNTY RD 6410

RT HH S

COUNTY RD 3620

COUNTY RD 7460

RT F E

RT F E

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