County profile · official public datasets

Sullivan County, MO

224 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.3% rated Good, 36.6% Fair, 7.1% Poor.

224
Public bridges: 56.3%
Good condition: 7.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.1%
Poor-condition share: 224
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sullivan County ranks #41 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.1%). Sullivan County, Missouri contains 224 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.3% are rated “Good,” 36.6% “Fair,” and 7.1% “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

224

Public highway bridges in Sullivan County

Good condition

56.3%

126 of 224 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.6%

82 of 224 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.1%

16 of 224 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 224 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.3% (126)

Fair

36.6% (82)

Poor

7.1% (16)

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,782 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 111 crossings a day against 146 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 224 of 224 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

23.2% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 224 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 56.3% 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 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RT OO S over LOCUST CR, built 1961, carries 572 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,782 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

8
1940s

9
1950s

19
1960s

10
1970s

2
1980s

5
1990s

74
2000s

57
2010s

29
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 11 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Sullivan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 12 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sullivan 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	225	34.7%	56.9%	8.4%	1981
Sullivan County (this page)	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 Sullivan 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 Sullivan County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (224 bridges here).

Conecuh County, AL · 224 bridges
Sac County, IA · 224 bridges
Riley County, KS · 224 bridges
Clarke County, MS · 224 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges

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

All 224 Good 126 Fair 82 Poor 16

All bridges (224)

Sort:

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,782 vehicle crossings a day

23.2% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sullivan 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 (224)

POLO RD

RIVER RD

SHELBY RD

VICKERS RD

MID LAKE RD

RT PP E

MAPLE RD

FINCH DR

TALENT RD

WALNUT RD

IRONBANK DR

TABLE RD

HOMESTEAD DR

GALAXY DR

TERRACE RD

MAYAPPLE RD

IVYWOOD DR

IVYWOOD DR

SAFARI RD

COUNTY RD 424

BERRY DR

MONTANA RD

GROVE DR

WILLOW RD

HOPE DR

WINDSONG RD

RUSTIC RD

COLLINS RD

RINGLE RD

MID LAKE RD

MO 6 E

MO 6 E

TIMBER RD

WINIGAN RD

FOREST DR

MO 129 S

MO 139 S

RT C E

COLLINS DR

PELICAN RD

HAPPY DR

COUNTY RD 345

MO 6 E

MO 6 E

RT O E

KNOX RD

RIVER RD

TIMBER RD

MO 5 S

RT C E

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