Total bridges
201
Public highway bridges in De Soto County
County profile · official public datasets
De Soto County, LA
201 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.9% rated Good, 67.2% Fair, 5% Poor.
- 201
- Public bridges
- 27.9%
- Good condition
- 5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
De Soto County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 9%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 5%
- Poor-condition share
- 201
- public highway bridges
- 1980
- 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.
De Soto County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, De Soto County ranks #6 of 64 Louisiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). De Soto County, Louisiana contains 201 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.9% are rated “Good,” 67.2% “Fair,” and 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.
Good condition
27.9%
56 of 201 rated 7-9
Fair condition
67.2%
135 of 201 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5%
10 of 201 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#6 of 64
Among Louisiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 201 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 27.9% (56)
Fair 67.2% (135)
Poor 5% (10)
De Soto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,738 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,274 crossings a day against 8,993 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 201 of 201 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
32.3% of De Soto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
65 of the 201 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 27.9% 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 49.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US0084 over BAYOU CASTOR, built 1951, carries 6,314 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 12,738 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When De Soto County's bridges were built
201 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 30
1950–1959
30 bridges
- 1960s 17
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s 25
1970–1979
25 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
76 bridges
- 1990s 3
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s 24
2000–2009
24 bridges
- 2010s 13
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Louisiana average (1982).
How De Soto County compares with Louisiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Louisiana counties nearest De Soto County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Louisiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grant County | 209 | 41.6% | 42.6% | 15.8% | 1982 |
| Richland County | 207 | 21.3% | 67.6% | 11.1% | 1979 |
| De Soto County (this page) | 201 | 27.9% | 67.2% | 5% | 1980 |
| LaSalle County | 195 | 60% | 34.4% | 5.6% | 1983 |
| Sabine County | 195 | 57.4% | 31.8% | 10.8% | 1983 |
| Webster County | 194 | 21.6% | 53.1% | 25.3% | 1975 |
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 De Soto 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 De Soto County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside LA (201 bridges here).
- Williamson County, IL · 201 bridges
- Hancock County, IN · 201 bridges
- Pocahontas County, IA · 201 bridges
- McCracken County, KY · 201 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1980 here).
- Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
- Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
- Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
- McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (10)
Hinds Rd
PoorOver: WALLACE BAYOU
2.3 MI. E. OF LA. 17, De Soto, LA
Built 1966 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 55
LA0513
PoorOver: DRAIN
1.1 MI NORTH OF LA 483, De Soto, LA
Built 1969 Load: 10.4 t ADT: 243
LA3015
PoorOver: BAYOU CASTOR RELIEF
1.94 MI EAST OF LA 5, De Soto, LA
Built 1971 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 1,157
LA0513
PoorOver: BRUSHY BAYOU
1.81 MI NORTH OF LA 483, De Soto, LA
Built 1969 Load: 16.5 t ADT: 243
LA0765
PoorOver: GARRISON CREEK
1.94 MI WEST OF LA 764, De Soto, LA
Built 1974 Load: 17.5 t ADT: 1,150
LA0764
PoorOver: DRAIN
3.06 MI NORTH OF US 84, De Soto, LA
Built 1971 Load: 20.4 t ADT: 1,933
US0084
PoorOver: BAYOU CASTOR
2.1 MI EAST OF LA 5, De Soto, LA
Built 1951 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 6,314
LA0513
PoorOver: TEN MILE BAYOU
2.9 MI NORTH OF LA 483, De Soto, LA
Built 1969 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 243
LA0513
PoorOver: TEN MILE B RELIEF
3.0 MI NORTH OF LA 483, De Soto, LA
Built 1969 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 243
LA3015
PoorOver: BAYOU CASTOR
2.11 MI EAST OF LA 5, De Soto, LA
Built 1972 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 1,157
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.