County profile · official public datasets

Webster County, MO

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.5% rated Good, 46% Fair, 8.5% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 45.5%
Good condition: 8.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Webster County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 8.5%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Webster County ranks #57 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.5%). Webster County, Missouri contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.5% are rated “Good,” 46% “Fair,” and 8.5% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Webster County

Good condition

45.5%

86 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46%

87 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.5%

16 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.5% (86)

Fair

46% (87)

Poor

8.5% (16)

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,495 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,468 crossings a day against 1,106 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 189 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.8% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

79 of the 189 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 45.5% 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 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 60 E over RT PP CST FRONT ST ST., built 1971, carries 8,352 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 23,495 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

15
1920s

1
1930s

7
1940s

9
1950s

18
1960s

15
1970s

16
1990s

24
2000s

46
2010s

27
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Missouri average (1979).

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Webster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Webster County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Webster County (this page)	189	45.5%	46%	8.5%	1981
Grundy County	187	54%	34.8%	11.2%	1992
Marion County	186	37.1%	53.8%	9.1%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Chase County, KS · 189 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 189 Good 86 Fair 87 Poor 16

All bridges (189)

Sort:

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,495 vehicle crossings a day

41.8% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Webster 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 (189)

MORNINGSIDE RD

WILD CHERRY LN

GRIER BRANCH RD

LAKE HILL RD

RT HH E

GENTRY RD

RT DD E

RT B S

Y RD

TIMBER RIDGE RD

STARVEY CREEK RD

BLACK HORSE RD

LITTLE BOWEN RD

OLD SEYMOUR RD

GOLF COURSE RD

BELL FORD RD

MEYERS HOLLOW RD

J RD

J RD

DUTCH CREEK RD

ALCORN RD

WILDFLOWER RD

RT ZZ S

RT M E

RT M E

RT W S

RT K S

PLANK SCHOOL RD E

SAMPSON RD E

RT M E

RT W S

FINLEY FALLS RD

RT B S

RT M E

RT W S

RT Y E

RT KK S

RT A S

RT W S

RT M E

RT P E

MO 38 E

RT FF S

RT Y E

RT B S

RT B S

RT B S

IS 44 E

RT B S

RT ZZ S

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