County profile · official public datasets

DeSoto County, FL

57 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.8% rated Good, 59.6% Fair, 3.5% Poor.

57
Public bridges: 36.8%
Good condition: 3.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

DeSoto County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

44th
of 67 on Poor share: 3.5%
Poor-condition share: 57
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

DeSoto County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, DeSoto County ranks #44 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). DeSoto County, Florida contains 57 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.8% are rated “Good,” 59.6% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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

Public highway bridges in DeSoto County

Good condition

36.8%

21 of 57 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.6%

34 of 57 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.5%

2 of 57 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 57 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.8% (21)

Fair

59.6% (34)

Poor

3.5% (2)

DeSoto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 950 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 950 crossings a day against 3,937 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 56 of 57 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.1% of DeSoto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

28 of the 57 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 36.8% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR-661 over BUNKER CREEK, built 1979, carries 950 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 950 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1950s

14
1960s

10
1970s

4
1980s

6
1990s

9
2000s

10
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Florida average (1983).

How DeSoto County compares with Florida's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Florida counties nearest DeSoto County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 7 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 66 Florida counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for DeSoto County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hamilton County	60	35%	63.3%	1.7%	1968
Hernando County	60	83.3%	16.7%	0%	1985
Madison County	60	41.7%	55%	3.3%	1968
Glades County	59	40.7%	59.3%	0%	1971
DeSoto County (this page)	57	36.8%	59.6%	3.5%	1979
Dixie County	55	45.5%	45.5%	9.1%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (57 bridges here).

Summit County, CO · 57 bridges
Dodge County, GA · 57 bridges
McIntosh County, GA · 57 bridges
Gem County, ID · 57 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 57 Good 21 Fair 34 Poor 2

All bridges (57)

Sort:

DeSoto County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

DeSoto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 950 vehicle crossings a day

49.1% of DeSoto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How DeSoto County compares with Florida'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 (57)

SE HANSEL AVE

CR-761

SMITH AVENUE

CR-769

PINE LEVEL ST.

BROWNVILLE RD

CR-760A

BOGGESS AVE.

SR-70

SR-70

SR-70

THORNTON AVE.

SE AIRPORT AVE

SR-70

CUBITIS AVE.

SR-70

SR-31

CR-761

CR-760

US-17 (SR-35)

NW BROWNVILLE RD

NW SECOND BUNKER

OAK HILL AVE.

CR-760

SR-31

SR-70

US-17 (SR-35)

SR-70

CR-661A

SR-70

SR-70

CR-769

SR-72

US-17 (SR-35)

SW HAY AVE.

DURRANCE STREET

CR-763

SR-70

US-17 (SR-35) NB

SR-31

SR-70

US-17 (SR-35)

SR-70

SR-35 (US-17) SB

SR-35 (US-17) NB

NE MOORE AVE

CR-763

REYNOLDS ST

SR-70

PINE LEVEL ST

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