Total bridges
341
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
County profile · official public datasets
Vernon County, LA
341 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.8% rated Good, 34.6% Fair, 7.6% Poor.
- 341
- Public bridges
- 57.8%
- Good condition
- 7.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Vernon County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 28%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 7.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 341
- public highway bridges
- 1989
- 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.
Vernon County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vernon County ranks #18 of 64 Louisiana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.6%). Vernon County, Louisiana contains 341 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.8% are rated “Good,” 34.6% “Fair,” and 7.6% “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
57.8%
197 of 341 rated 7-9
Fair condition
34.6%
118 of 341 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.6%
26 of 341 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#18 of 64
Among Louisiana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 341 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 57.8% (197)
Fair 34.6% (118)
Poor 7.6% (26)
Vernon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,420 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.9% 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 555 crossings a day against 2,622 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 338 of 341 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
17.6% of Vernon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
60 of the 341 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 57.8% 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 25% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
JEAN ST over CASTOR BAYOU TRIB., built 1970, carries 3,600 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 26-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 14,420 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Vernon County's bridges were built
341 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 11
1940–1949
11 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s 21
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
63 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
55 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
70 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
60 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
45 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 7 years newer than the Louisiana average of 1982.
How Vernon County compares with Louisiana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Louisiana counties nearest Vernon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 8 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Louisiana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Tammany County | 360 | 33.3% | 60.6% | 6.1% | 1976 |
| Vernon County (this page) | 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 |
| St. Landry County | 317 | 43.2% | 49.2% | 7.6% | 1980 |
| Natchitoches County | 313 | 46% | 38.7% | 15.3% | 1983 |
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 Vernon 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 Vernon County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside LA (341 bridges here).
- Ramsey County, MN · 341 bridges
- Stephenson County, IL · 342 bridges
- Winneshiek County, IA · 342 bridges
- Noble County, OK · 342 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1989 here).
- Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
- Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
- Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
- Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (118)
505 ROAD
FairOver: ODOM CREEK
VE 812 723, Vernon, LA
Built 2005 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 40
LA0464
FairOver: CANEY CREEK
.69 MILES SOUTH OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Built 1987 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 856
MCCONATHY RD
FairOver: VERNON LAKE TRIB.
0.54 M. S. OF JCT LA 111, Vernon, LA
Built 1988 Load: 57.3 t ADT: 230
ROAD QUARY RD
FairOver: STAGESTAND CR
FORT POLK, Vernon, LA
Built 2005 Load: 68.7 t ADT: 40
LA0399
FairOver: BR. OF WHISKEY CHITTO CR
3.1 MI. SOUTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Built 2001 Load: 71.9 t ADT: 938
LA0111
FairOver: DRAIN
.29 MI E OF W JCT LA 392, Vernon, LA
Built 1999 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 801
LA0111
FairOver: UNNAMED BRANCH
6.61 MI EAST JCT US 171, Vernon, LA
Built 1997 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 937
LA0399
FairOver: BR. OF WHISKEY CHITTO CR
2.22 MI. SOUTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Built 2001 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 938
LA0113
FairOver: CANEY BRANCH
5.19 MI SO OF JCT LA 10, Vernon, LA
Built 1999 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 709
LA0113
FairOver: UNNAMED CREEK
2.66 MI S OF JCT LA 10, Vernon, LA
Built 1999 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 709
SAVAGE FORKS RD
FairOver: BIG BRANCH
1.02 M. S. OF END LA 1211, Vernon, LA
Built 1984 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 290
VFW RD
FairOver: CASTOR BAYOU TRIBUTARY
1.38 M. W. OF LA 1211, Vernon, LA
Built 1987 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 250
ALLEN GORDY RD
FairOver: FLACTOR CREEK TRIB.
0.47 M. N. OF LA 121 NEAR, Vernon, LA
Built 1984 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 100,060
ROY LEE SNELL RD
FairOver: BR. OF W. ANACOCO CR.
APP. 0.5 M W OF RIVERS RD, Vernon, LA
Built 1984 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 80
SWAIN ROAD
FairOver: W FORK 6MI CREEK
FORT POLK, Vernon, LA
Built 2007 Load: 78.4 t ADT: 336
SPEARS VILLAGE RD
FairOver: DRAINAGE STAGESTAND CR
PEASON RIDGE TRAIN AREA, Vernon, LA
Built 2005 Load: 82.9 t ADT: 400
TRAM ROAD
FairOver: TIGER CREEK
VE 826 720, Vernon, LA
Built 2005 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 40
BELL RICHARD AVE
FairOver: HOGPEN BRANCH
VE 949 320, Vernon, LA
Built 1981 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 160
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.