County profile · official public datasets

Wright County, MO

131 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.4% rated Good, 67.2% Fair, 11.5% Poor.

131
Public bridges: 21.4%
Good condition: 11.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wright County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

84th
of 115 on Poor share: 11.5%
Poor-condition share: 131
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Wright County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wright County ranks #84 of 115 Missouri counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.5%). Wright County, Missouri contains 131 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.4% are rated “Good,” 67.2% “Fair,” and 11.5% “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

131

Public highway bridges in Wright County

Good condition

21.4%

28 of 131 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.2%

88 of 131 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.5%

15 of 131 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#84 of 115

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

Condition distribution

Share of 131 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.4% (28)

Fair

67.2% (88)

Poor

11.5% (15)

Wright County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,128 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,009 crossings a day against 122 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 131 of 131 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

68.7% of Wright County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 131 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 21.4% 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 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MO 5 S over BNSF RR, built 1958, carries 5,340 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,128 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

8
1930s

22
1940s

11
1950s

24
1960s

19
1970s

12
1980s

6
1990s

9
2000s

6
2010s

11
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 24 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 1964, 15 years older than the Missouri average of 1979.

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

The 5 Missouri counties nearest Wright County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wright County and the 5 Missouri counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ralls County	138	31.9%	60.9%	7.2%	1976
Mercer County	137	44.5%	36.5%	19%	1976
Benton County	135	11.9%	67.4%	20.7%	1964
Howard County	133	42.1%	49.6%	8.3%	1980
Wright County (this page)	131	21.4%	67.2%	11.5%	1964
Iron County	126	30.2%	60.3%	9.5%	1962

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MO (131 bridges here).

Columbia County, AR · 131 bridges
Laurel County, KY · 131 bridges
Franklin County, LA · 131 bridges
Lincoln County, NM · 131 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MO (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 131 Good 28 Fair 88 Poor 15

All bridges (131)

Sort:

Wright County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wright County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,128 vehicle crossings a day

68.7% of Wright County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wright 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 (131)

COUNTY LINE RD

LITTLE VINE RD

PARKS CREEK RD

COTTON HOLLOW

INDIAN GROVE RD

LORING RD

BOYER RD

THARPE SCHOOL RD

MO 38 E

RT F S

SUMMIT RD

LITTLE VINE RD

OWENS RD

DOVE CREEK RD

CLOUSE RD

PRAIRIE HOLLOW RD

PRAIRIE HOLLOW RD

BAKER CREEK RD

LONDON RD

MORTON RD

LUCKY RD

OLD HWY 5

OLD HWY 5

RT H E

RT H E

RT H E

MO 95 S

RT F S

MO 38 E

RT A E

MO 5 S

RT TT S

RT M E

ADAMSON RD

BU 60 E

RT A E

RT E S

MO 38 E

MO 38 E

MO 38 E

PEACH CORNER RD

PRAIRIE HOLLOW RD

RT C S

RT F S

MO 38 E

RT F S

MO 38 E

RT Y S

RT E S

MO 38 E

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