County profile · official public datasets

Wayne County, MO

197 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.9% rated Good, 64% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

197
Public bridges: 29.9%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wayne County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 25%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 197
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.

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #29 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Wayne County, Missouri contains 197 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.9% are rated “Good,” 64% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

197

Public highway bridges in Wayne County

Good condition

29.9%

59 of 197 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64%

126 of 197 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

12 of 197 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 197 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.9% (59)

Fair

64% (126)

Poor

6.1% (12)

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,051 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 421 crossings a day against 983 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 197 of 197 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.9% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 197 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 29.9% 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 64.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 34 E over CLARK CR, built 1965, carries 3,275 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,051 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

7
1920s

20
1930s

20
1940s

12
1950s

36
1960s

26
1970s

5
1980s

2
1990s

3
2000s

34
2010s

27
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.3% 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 Wayne County compares with Missouri's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 16 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wayne County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scotland County	201	35.8%	59.7%	4.5%	1995
Wayne County (this page)	197	29.9%	64%	6.1%	1968
Cooper County	193	49.7%	46.1%	4.1%	1985
Atchison County	191	58.1%	32.5%	9.4%	1985
Howell County	189	34.4%	63.5%	2.1%	1966
Lincoln County	189	40.2%	56.1%	3.7%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (197 bridges here).

Crawford County, IL · 197 bridges
Fountain County, IN · 197 bridges
Warrick County, IN · 197 bridges
Allamakee County, IA · 197 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 197 Good 59 Fair 126 Poor 12

All bridges (197)

Sort:

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,051 vehicle crossings a day

62.9% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wayne 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 (197)

COUNTY RD 224 A

COUNTY RD 519 B

COUNTY RD 406

COUNTY RD 314

COUNTY RD 501

COUNTY RD 442

COUNTY RD 324

COUNTY RD 313A

COUNTY RD 224

COUNTY RD 528

RT C S

COUNTY RD 352

COUNTY RD 312

COUNTY RD 304

COUNTY RD 349 B

MO 143 S

COUNTY RD 436

COUNTY RD 337

RT C S

COUNTY RD 335

RT CC E

RT N S

COUNTY RD 537

MO 143 S

RT C S

RT N S

RT E E

RT E E

RT E E

RT E E

MO 49 S

MO 49 S

CO RD 500 CEMETERY

COUNTY RD 519 B

COUNTY RD 442

COUNTY RD 403

COUNTY RD 403

COUNTY RD 380

COUNTY RD 345

ELM ST

RT D S

RT M S

COUNTY RD 403

COMMANCHE DR

MO 34 E

MO 49 S

RT E E

US 67 S

US 67 N

MO 49 S

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