Total bridges
26
Public highway bridges in St. James County
County profile · official public datasets
St. James County, LA
26 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.8% rated Good, 61.5% Fair, 7.7% Poor.
- 26
- Public bridges
- 30.8%
- Good condition
- 7.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
St. James 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 30%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 7.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 26
- public highway bridges
- 1973
- 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.
St. James County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, St. James County ranks #19 of 64 Louisiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). St. James County, Louisiana contains 26 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.8% are rated “Good,” 61.5% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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
30.8%
8 of 26 rated 7-9
Fair condition
61.5%
16 of 26 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.7%
2 of 26 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#19 of 64
Among Louisiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 26 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 30.8% (8)
Fair 61.5% (16)
Poor 7.7% (2)
St. James County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,367 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,184 crossings a day against 10,411 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 26 of 26 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
38.5% of St. James County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
10 of the 26 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 30.8% 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 98.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
LA0020 over BAYOU CHEVREVIL, built 1959, carries 8,204 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 8,367 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When St. James County's bridges were built
26 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1950s
1950–1959
5 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
5 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
7 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
8 bridges
- 1990s 1
1990–1999
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 9 years older than the Louisiana average of 1982.
How St. James County compares with Louisiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Louisiana counties nearest St. James County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 9 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Louisiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pointe Coupee County | 50 | 22% | 52% | 26% | 1970 |
| St. Bernard County | 47 | 55.3% | 38.3% | 6.4% | 1998 |
| Concordia County | 42 | 45.2% | 45.2% | 9.5% | 1982 |
| St. John the Baptist County | 40 | 37.5% | 60% | 2.5% | 1979 |
| Plaquemines County | 34 | 17.6% | 61.8% | 20.6% | 1981 |
| St. James County (this page) | 26 | 30.8% | 61.5% | 7.7% | 1973 |
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 St. James 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 St. James County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside LA (26 bridges here).
- Mineral County, CO · 26 bridges
- Webster County, GA · 26 bridges
- Garfield County, MT · 26 bridges
- Petroleum County, MT · 26 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1973 here).
- Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
- Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
- Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
- Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (26)
LA0070
FairOver: MISSISSIPPI RIVER
LA0070, St. James, LA
Built 1963 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 17,100
LA3213
FairOver: MISSISSIPPI RIVER
0.85M NE JCT LA20 & LA44, St. James, LA
Built 1989 Load: 16.5 t ADT: 13,743
LA0020
FairOver: DRAIN CANAL
LA0020, St. James, LA
Built 1965 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 8,204
US0061
FairOver: BLIND RIVER
3.74 M W of LA 641, St. James, LA
Built 1977 Load: 20.1 t ADT: 14,957
US0061
FairOver: BLIND RIVER
US0061, St. James, LA
Built 1954 Load: 21.4 t ADT: 8,171
US0061
FairOver: DRAIN CANAL
1.39 M W of LA 641, St. James, LA
Built 1954 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 8,171
US0061
FairOver: TCHACKCHOU BAYOU
US0061, St. James, LA
Built 1954 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 8,171
LA3213
FairOver: MISSISSIPPI RIVER/IC RR
3.0M SOUTH JCT US61/LA641, St. James, LA
Built 1993 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 13,743
LA3125
FairOver: BAYOU DES ACADIENS
LA 3125 ST JAMES PAR, St. James, LA
Built 1980 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 10,807
LA0642
FairOver: MARVIN CANAL
0.6 M W of LA 3125, St. James, LA
Built 1979 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 410
I0010
FairOver: BLIND RIVER
I0010, St. James, LA
Built 1975 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 49,274
I0010
FairOver: BLIND RIVER
I0010, St. James, LA
Built 1975 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 29,510
LA3127
FairOver: SAINT JAMES CANAL
4.6 M EAST OF LA 70&3127, St. James, LA
Built 1988 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 6,703
LA0070
FairOver: OFF RAMP
LA70 Offramp 0.5 M E LA44, St. James, LA
Built 1964 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 6,786
LA0070
FairOver: RAMP EB
LA70 EB ramp 0.5 M E LA44, St. James, LA
Built 1964 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 6,786
LA3127
FairOver: BAYOU VERRET
1.1 M EAST OF LA 70&3127, St. James, LA
Built 1988 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 6,703
US0061
GoodOver: DRAIN CANAL
6.27 M W of LA 641, St. James, LA
Built 1954 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 8,171
LA0641
GoodOver: MC WILLIAMS PIPELINE XIN
LA 641 1.4 MI S OF I-10, St. James, LA
Built 1982 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 6,427
LA3125
GoodOver: PIPELINE CROSSING
0.6 M E of LA 70, St. James, LA
Built 1980 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 10,807
I0010
GoodOver: LA 641 OVER I-10
3.4 M N of US 61, St. James, LA
Built 1981 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 6,427
US0061
GoodOver: Blind River
0.1 Mi N. of LA 3274, St. James, LA
Built 1978 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 14,837
US0061
GoodOver: TCHACKCHOU BAYOU
US0061, St. James, LA
Built 1978 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 14,957
US0061
GoodOver: DRAIN CANAL
6.24 M W of LA 641, St. James, LA
Built 1978 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 14,957
LA3127
GoodOver: SAINT JAMES CANAL
7.4 M EAST OF LA 70&3127, St. James, LA
Built 1989 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 6,703
LA0020
PoorOver: BAYOU CHEVREVIL
1.2 Mi N of LA 307, St. James, LA
Built 1959 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 8,204
Conway Bayou
PoorOver: BARROW PIT
26 Ft E of US 61, St. James, LA
Built 1968 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 163
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.