County profile · official public datasets

Shannon County, MO

63 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.4% rated Good, 63.5% Fair, 11.1% Poor.

63
Public bridges: 25.4%
Good condition: 11.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Shannon 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.

82nd
of 115 on Poor share: 11.1%
Poor-condition share: 63
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Shannon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shannon County ranks #82 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Shannon County, Missouri contains 63 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.4% are rated “Good,” 63.5% “Fair,” and 11.1% “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

Public highway bridges in Shannon County

Good condition

25.4%

16 of 63 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.5%

40 of 63 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.1%

7 of 63 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#82 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 63 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.4% (16)

Fair

63.5% (40)

Poor

11.1% (7)

Shannon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,256 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 608 crossings a day against 832 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 63 of 63 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.9% of Shannon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 63 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 25.4% 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 33.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 19 S over HURRICANE CR, built 1937, carries 1,426 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,256 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

14
1930s

8
1940s

5
1950s

7
1960s

3
1970s

6
1980s

4
1990s

8
2000s

3
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1920s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 95 to 104 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 18 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Shannon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Shannon County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dent County	75	21.3%	70.7%	8%	1969
Douglas County	75	18.7%	74.7%	6.7%	1963
Maries County	69	31.9%	52.2%	15.9%	1974
Stone County	64	50%	43.8%	6.3%	1982
Shannon County (this page)	63	25.4%	63.5%	11.1%	1961
Hickory County	57	38.6%	43.9%	17.5%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (63 bridges here).

Highlands County, FL · 63 bridges
Chattahoochee County, GA · 63 bridges
Red River County, LA · 63 bridges
Lincoln County, ME · 63 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 63 Good 16 Fair 40 Poor 7

All bridges (63)

Sort:

Shannon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Shannon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,256 vehicle crossings a day

61.9% of Shannon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Shannon 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 (63)

OLD RTE 60

SERVICE ROAD

MO 19 S

RT KK E

RT W S

RT N S

MO 106 E

OLD RTE 60

COUNTY RD

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

MO 19 S

BIRCH CRK RD 651

COUNTY RD 258

MO 19 S

COUNTY RD 267

RT W S

MO 106 E

MO 106 E

RT A E

COUNTY RD 258

RT A E

RT A E

MO 19 S

MO 106 E

US 60 E

US 60 E

US 60 E

MO 106 E

MO 106 E

MO 99 S

MO 106 E

MO 106 E

US 60 E

US 60 E

RT A E

US 60 W

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

OLD RTE 60

RT Z E

RT HH S

MO 19 S

RT E S

COUNTY RD 504

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