County profile · official public datasets

Ripley County, MO

116 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.6% rated Good, 61.2% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

116
Public bridges: 33.6%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ripley County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 116
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.

Ripley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ripley County ranks #23 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Ripley County, Missouri contains 116 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.6% are rated “Good,” 61.2% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

116

Public highway bridges in Ripley County

Good condition

33.6%

39 of 116 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.2%

71 of 116 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

6 of 116 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 116 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.6% (39)

Fair

61.2% (71)

Poor

5.2% (6)

Ripley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,074 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 679 crossings a day against 630 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 116 of 116 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

66.4% of Ripley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

77 of the 116 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 33.6% 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 29% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 142 E over LOGAN CR, built 1933, carries 1,181 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,074 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

19
1940s

10
1950s

21
1960s

12
1970s

10
1980s

13
1990s

5
2000s

6
2010s

10
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.1% 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 Ripley County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Ripley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ripley County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Perry County	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
Ripley County (this page)	116	33.6%	61.2%	5.2%	1965
Dallas County	114	41.2%	52.6%	6.1%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (116 bridges here).

Howard County, AR · 116 bridges
Cassia County, ID · 116 bridges
Worth County, IA · 116 bridges
Sheridan County, KS · 116 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 116 Good 39 Fair 71 Poor 6

All bridges (116)

Sort:

Ripley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ripley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,074 vehicle crossings a day

66.4% of Ripley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ripley 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 (116)

COUNTY RD J

142E-24

H-5

N-2A

160E-8

142E-30

P-3 (REEDS BR)

RT N S

MO 21 S

RT H S

RT H S

JJ-2

160E-12

MO 21 S

MO 21 S

RT W S

MO 142 E

RT K S

RT H S

RT Z S

M

COUNTY RD

PINE ST

U5

A7

A2

21-S5

BROOKS LN

142W-7

142-W7

RT P S

MO 142 E

RT P S

RT DD S

MO 142 E

160E-28

MO 21 S

RT A S

RT C S

RT K S

MO 142 E

MO 142 E

RT B S

RT Z S

MO 142 E

K-5

US 160 E

RT K S

RT T S

MO 142 E

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