County profile · official public datasets

Pike County, MO

225 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 56.9% Fair, 8.4% Poor.

225
Public bridges: 34.7%
Good condition: 8.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 49%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.4%
Poor-condition share: 225
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pike County ranks #56 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.4%). Pike County, Missouri contains 225 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 56.9% “Fair,” and 8.4% “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

225

Public highway bridges in Pike County

Good condition

34.7%

78 of 225 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.9%

128 of 225 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.4%

19 of 225 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 225 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.7% (78)

Fair

56.9% (128)

Poor

8.4% (19)

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,179 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 588 crossings a day against 1,304 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 225 of 225 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.2% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 225 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 34.7% 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 75.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

GEORGIA ST over TOWN BR, built 1950, carries 8,400 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 11,179 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

17
1920s

4
1930s

9
1940s

4
1950s

17
1960s

12
1970s

19
1980s

31
1990s

35
2000s

28
2010s

39
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 39 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 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Pike County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pike County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Saline County	230	33.9%	53%	13%	1976
Butler County	227	49.3%	42.3%	8.4%	1981
Cole County	227	27.3%	63.9%	8.8%	1982
Pike County (this page)	225	34.7%	56.9%	8.4%	1981
Sullivan County	224	56.3%	36.6%	7.1%	1990
Daviess County	222	27.5%	48.2%	24.3%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (225 bridges here).

Dallas County, AL · 225 bridges
Madison County, IA · 225 bridges
Mahaska County, IA · 225 bridges
Lincoln County, KS · 225 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 225 Good 78 Fair 128 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (128)

Sort:

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,179 vehicle crossings a day

30.2% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pike 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 (128)

MO 79 S

MO 79 S

RT M S

RT Y S

COUNTY RD 133

COUNTY RD 431

RT J E

MO 79 S

RT U S

COUNTY RD 252

COUNTY RD 300

RT D S

COUNTY RD 448

RT W S

COUNTY RD 041

MO 161 S

COUNTY RD 319

COUNTY RD 210

COUNTY RD 325

COUNTY RD 328

COUNTY RD 338

8TH ST

COUNTY RD 454

COUNTY RD 309

COUNTY RD 207

RT B E

US 61 S

COUNTY RD 038

COUNTY RD 418

COUNTY RD 015

COUNTY RD 420

RT UU E

US 54 E

RT K E

COUNTY RD 403

US 61 N

COUNTY RD 133

COUNTY RD 254

COUNTY RD 466

RT WW E

MO 79 S

RT UU E

COUNTY RD 319

COUNTY RD 008

RT D S

COUNTY RD 417

RT K E

COUNTY RD 032

RT YY E

US 54 E

Related