County profile · official public datasets

St. Francois County, MO

165 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.2% rated Good, 51.5% Fair, 10.3% Poor.

165
Public bridges: 38.2%
Good condition: 10.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

St. Francois 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.

72nd
of 115 on Poor share: 10.3%
Poor-condition share: 165
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.

St. Francois County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, St. Francois County ranks #72 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.3%). St. Francois County, Missouri contains 165 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.2% are rated “Good,” 51.5% “Fair,” and 10.3% “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

165

Public highway bridges in St. Francois County

Good condition

38.2%

63 of 165 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.5%

85 of 165 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.3%

17 of 165 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 165 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.2% (63)

Fair

51.5% (85)

Poor

10.3% (17)

St. Francois County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,081 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,299 crossings a day against 2,870 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 165 of 165 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.8% of St. Francois County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

97 of the 165 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 38.2% 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 45.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 67 N over MO 8, built 1959, carries 17,758 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,081 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

4
1910s

2
1920s

16
1930s

14
1940s

12
1950s

26
1960s

17
1970s

10
1980s

11
1990s

13
2000s

20
2010s

12
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 11 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

How St. Francois County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Missouri counties nearest St. Francois County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for St. Francois County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Holt County	167	38.3%	46.7%	15%	1974
Knox County	167	34.7%	61.1%	4.2%	1987
Barry County	166	23.5%	61.4%	15.1%	1973
St. Francois County (this page)	165	38.2%	51.5%	10.3%	1968
Montgomery County	163	28.8%	65%	6.1%	1979
Randolph County	163	60.1%	36.8%	3.1%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (165 bridges here).

Cleburne County, AL · 165 bridges
Randolph County, AL · 165 bridges
Plumas County, CA · 165 bridges
Leon County, FL · 165 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 165 Good 63 Fair 85 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (85)

Sort:

St. Francois County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

St. Francois County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,081 vehicle crossings a day

58.8% of St. Francois County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How St. Francois 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 (85)

RT H S

BUSIEK RD

OLD CADET RD

PIMVILLE RD

LIBERTY ST

OLD JACKSON RD

OLD FREDERICKTOWN

OVANDERGRIFF RD

LOUGHBORO RD

LOUGHBORO RD

LAKE AVALON RD

KING SCHOOL RD

OLD RTE 8

OLD RTE 8

VO-TECH RD

OLD HWY 8

COPELAND RD

RT NN E

US 67 N

CROSSMAN RD

RT H S

RT M E

RT K E

MO 221 N

MO 221 S

BU 32 E

US 67 N

RT OO S

MO 32 E

RT E S

US 67 N

RT OO S

US 67 N

US 67 N

US 67 S

RT H S

US 67 N

RT OO S

RT N S

SAFFELL RD

US 67 N

BEST RD

RT AA S

RT OO S

RT Y E

US 67 S

RT F E

US 67 N

US 67 S

MO 221 N

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