Total bridges
382
Public highway bridges in Orleans County
County profile · official public datasets
Orleans County, LA
382 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.7% rated Good, 46.3% Fair, 9.9% Poor.
- 382
- Public bridges
- 43.7%
- Good condition
- 9.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Orleans County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 48%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 9.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 382
- public highway bridges
- 1976
- 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.
Orleans County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orleans County ranks #31 of 64 Louisiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.9%). Orleans County, Louisiana contains 382 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.7% are rated “Good,” 46.3% “Fair,” and 9.9% “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
43.7%
167 of 382 rated 7-9
Fair condition
46.3%
177 of 382 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9.9%
38 of 382 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#31 of 64
Among Louisiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 382 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 43.7% (167)
Fair 46.3% (177)
Poor 9.9% (38)
Orleans County's Poor-condition bridges carry 572,775 vehicle crossings a day
That is 8.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 30,146 crossings a day against 15,720 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 266 of 382 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
52.6% of Orleans County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
201 of the 382 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 43.7% 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 26.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I0010 over SERVICE RD & UPT R/R, built 1960, carries 154,311 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 38-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 572,775 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Orleans County's bridges were built
382 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 13
1930–1939
13 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 27
1950–1959
27 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
121 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
74 bridges
- 1980s 37
1980–1989
37 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
62 bridges
- 2000s 21
2000–2009
21 bridges
- 2010s 19
2010–2019
19 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 121 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 6 years older than the Louisiana average of 1982.
How Orleans County compares with Louisiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Louisiana counties nearest Orleans County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 7 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Louisiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orleans County (this page) | 382 | 43.7% | 46.3% | 9.9% | 1976 |
| Jefferson County | 379 | 58.6% | 36.9% | 4.5% | 1984 |
| St. Tammany County | 360 | 33.3% | 60.6% | 6.1% | 1976 |
| Vernon County | 341 | 57.8% | 34.6% | 7.6% | 1989 |
| Ouachita County | 337 | 27.9% | 59.3% | 12.8% | 1981 |
| Lafayette County | 322 | 44.7% | 47.5% | 7.8% | 1986 |
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 Orleans 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 Orleans County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside LA (382 bridges here).
- Jasper County, IA · 382 bridges
- Stephens County, OK · 382 bridges
- Trumbull County, OH · 383 bridges
- Webb County, TX · 383 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1976 here).
- Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
- Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
- Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
- Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (167)
I0010
GoodOver: CROWDER RD.
2.2 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1973 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 1,600
I0010
GoodOver: BULLARD RD.
4.4 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1973 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 1,600
I-10
GoodOver: Drain Canal
3.5 Mi. East of I-510, Orleans, LA
Built 2022 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 77,962
I-10
GoodOver: Dranage Canal
5.2 Mi. East of I-510, Orleans, LA
Built 2022 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 77,962
US0090-B
GoodOver: GROUND
0.2 MI W OF LOYOLA AVE, Orleans, LA
Built 1960 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 7,620
I0010
GoodOver: CITRUS CANAL
3.1 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1970 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 55,800
I0010
GoodOver: CITRUS CANAL
3.1 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1970 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 1,600
US0090-B
GoodOver: GROUND
0.5 MI. S. OF I-10, Orleans, LA
Built 2016 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 7,620
US0090-B
GoodOver: CITY STREETS TRANSITRAM
1.97 MI SOUTH OF I-10, Orleans, LA
Built 1995 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 14,010
I0010
GoodOver: CITRUS CANAL RD.
3.1 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1970 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 4,380
I0010
GoodOver: CITRUS CANAL RD.
3.1 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1970 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 1,503
I0010
GoodOver: ON RAMP-ELY FDS.
.68 MI EAST OF LA 39, Orleans, LA
Built 1974 Load: 48.1 t ADT: 7,620
I0010
GoodOver: ON RAMP I-10E.FROM US90
.1 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1967 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 7,620
I0010
GoodOver: GROUND
0.07 MILE SOUTH OF US 11, Orleans, LA
Built 2011 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 1,600
I0010
GoodOver: ON RAMP I-10W FROM US90
.2 MI EAST OF US 90, Orleans, LA
Built 1967 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 7,620
NATURE CENTER DR.
GoodOver: LAGOON
1.2 MI NE OF CHEF MENTEUR, Orleans, LA
Built 2018 Load: 60.6 t ADT: 500
Louisa St
GoodOver: Florida Ave Canal
0.0 Mi. N. of Florida Ave, Orleans, LA
Built 2020 Load: 71.0 t ADT: 250
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.