Total bridges
401
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
County profile · official public datasets
401 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.4% rated Good, 60.3% Fair, 4.2% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Vernon County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vernon County ranks #15 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Vernon County, Missouri contains 401 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.4% are rated “Good,” 60.3% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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
401
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
Good condition
35.4%
142 of 401 rated 7-9
Fair condition
60.3%
242 of 401 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.2%
17 of 401 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#15 of 115
Among Missouri counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 401 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 13.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,406 crossings a day against 372 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 401 of 401 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
104 of the 401 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 35.4% 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.
IS 49 S over US 54 MNA RR, built 1969, carries 9,126 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 40,910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
401 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
2 bridges
1920–1929
14 bridges
1930–1939
16 bridges
1940–1949
9 bridges
1950–1959
25 bridges
1960–1969
29 bridges
1970–1979
14 bridges
1980–1989
31 bridges
1990–1999
97 bridges
2000–2009
74 bridges
2010–2019
67 bridges
2020–2029
23 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 97 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 9 years newer than the Missouri average of 1979.
The 5 Missouri counties nearest Vernon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 114 Missouri counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles County | 417 | 32.4% | 64.3% | 3.4% | 1994 |
| Jefferson County | 411 | 33.6% | 63% | 3.4% | 1981 |
| Vernon County (this page) | 401 | 35.4% | 60.3% | 4.2% | 1988 |
| Nodaway County | 396 | 48% | 37.6% | 14.4% | 1992 |
| Cass County | 377 | 36.3% | 54.9% | 8.8% | 1983 |
| Cape Girardeau County | 374 | 35.8% | 59.1% | 5.1% | 1978 |
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 Vernon County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Vernon County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside MO (401 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1988 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: TRIB OF WHITE BR
S 5 T 35 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF MCKILL CR
S 26 T 34 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF MCKILL CR
S 25 T 34 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB PLEASANT CR
S 7 T 34 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB MOORES BR
S 27 T 35 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF W FK CR
S 26 T 38 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: DOUGLAS BR
S 13 T 36 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB PLEASANT CR
S 7 T 34 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: HACKBERRY BR
S 28 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF CLEAR CR
S 5 T 34 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: OLD TOWN CR
S 11 T 36 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB LIT DRYWOOD C
S 3 T 34 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: LIT DRYWOOD CR
S 1 T 34 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: WHITE BR
S 30 T 36 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF DRYWOOD CR
S 11 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: LIT DRY WOOD CR
S 1 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: W FK OF CLEAR CR
S 9 T 36 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: GREEN BR
S 13 T 35 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: DUNCAN CR
S 5 T 37 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: LIT OSAGE RVR OVRF
S 15 T 37 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: SHILOH CR
S 30 T 36 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: BEECHAM BR
S 1 T 36 N R 29 W, Vernon, MO
Over: WHITE BR
S 32 T 36 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB MARMATON RVR
S 23 T 36 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: BIRCH CR
S 7 T 35 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF MCKILL CR
S 25 T 34 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: BIRCH CR
S 15 T 35 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: CHRISTIAN CR
S 32 T 37 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF DRYWOOD CR
S 2 T 34 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF CLEAR CR
S 19 T 34 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: DRY BR
S 27 T 36 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: DRYWOOD CR
S 24 T 35 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: MILLER BR
S 16 T 37 N R 29 W, Vernon, MO
Over: HIGHTOWER CR
S 18 T 37 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: COTTONWOOD CR
S 16 T 36 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: ROBINSON BR
S 18 T 36 N R 29 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB MARMATON RVR
S 22 T 36 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: IS 49
S 20 T 37 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: IS 49
S 33 T 36 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: PECAN CR
S 9 T 37 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: OLD TOWN BR
S 14 T 36 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: HACKBERRY BR
S 28 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: INGRAM CR
S 25 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF CLEAR CR
S 19 T 34 N R 30 W, Vernon, MO
Over: WOLF CR
S 11 T 37 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB OF MCKILL CR
S 19 T 34 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: W FK CR
S 36 T 38 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Over: MARMATON RVR
S 6 T 35 N R 32 W, Vernon, MO
Over: WILLOW CR
S 31 T 38 N R 31 W, Vernon, MO
Over: TRIB LIT OSAGE RVR
S 22 T 37 N R 33 W, Vernon, MO
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.