County profile · official public datasets

Vernon County, MO

401 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.4% rated Good, 60.3% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

401
Public bridges: 35.4%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

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.

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 401
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Vernon County Bridge Snapshot

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

Condition distribution

Share of 401 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.4% (142)

Fair

60.3% (242)

Poor

4.2% (17)

Vernon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,910 vehicle crossings a day

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.

25.9% of Vernon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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.

One structure carries 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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.

1900s

2
1920s

14
1930s

16
1940s

9
1950s

25
1960s

29
1970s

14
1980s

31
1990s

97
2000s

74
2010s

67
2020s

23

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.

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

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Vernon County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Vernon County, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (401 bridges here).

San Luis Obispo County, CA · 401 bridges
Randolph County, NC · 401 bridges
Jackson County, OR · 401 bridges
Marshall County, KS · 402 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 401 Good 142 Fair 242 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (242)

Sort:

Vernon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Vernon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,910 vehicle crossings a day

25.9% of Vernon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Vernon 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 (242)

LADY RD

COUNTY RD 1400

CR OLD TOWN

COUNTY RD REBEL

RT FF E

JAMES RD

LADY RD

MILITIA RD

COUNTY RD 1000

COUNTY RD 3050

RT M S

CR 700

RT FF E

ARNOLD RD

COUNTY RD 1525

COUNTY RD 1463

COUNTY RD 1525

ARNOLD RD

CR DODGE

US 54 E

RT O E

RT EE E

KATY TRACK RD

COUNTY RD STOCKADE

KATY TRACK RD

EARHART RD

RT E E

COUNTY RD REBEL

COUNTY RD 500

1900 RD

US 54 E

US 54 E

RT D E

RT D E

RT H E

RT B E

FAIRVIEW RD

RT DD E

RT D E

COUNTY RD 900

COUNTY RD 3125

COUNTY RD YATER

COUNTY RD 1900

RT HH S

RT KK E

RT C S

COUNTY RD 200

DALTON RD

KATY TRACK RD

IS 49 S

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