Total bridges
341
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
County profile · official public datasets
341 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.8% rated Good, 34.6% Fair, 7.6% Poor.
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.
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.
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.
Total bridges
341
Public highway bridges in Vernon County
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
Share of 341 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
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.
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.
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.
341 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1930–1939
2 bridges
1940–1949
11 bridges
1950–1959
8 bridges
1960–1969
21 bridges
1970–1979
63 bridges
1980–1989
55 bridges
1990–1999
70 bridges
2000–2009
60 bridges
2010–2019
45 bridges
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.
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.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Vernon County, both outside Louisiana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside LA (341 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside LA (1989 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: DRY CREEK
6.74 MI. E. JCT. US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: STEEP GULLY BRANCH
3.1 MI EAST OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: STEEP GULLY
3.2 MI EAST OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: CLEAR CREEK
1.8M EAST US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: HURRICANE CREEK
2.5M EAST US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: BUNDICK CREEK
4.1M EAST OF US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: GLADE BRANCH
10.71 MI EAST OF LA 467, Vernon, LA
Over: CASTOR BAYOU
4.82M WEST OF US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: LITTLE SOAPSTONE CREEK
4.3 M S OF JCT LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: BAYOU ZOURIE
1.1 NORTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: BAYOU CASTOR S BRANCH
1.24 MI. SOUTH OF US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: LITTLE SIX MILE CREEK
5.18 MI. WEST OF LA 463, Vernon, LA
Over: SANDY CREEK
.77 MI EAST OF JCT LA 392, Vernon, LA
Over: YELLOW DOG BRANCH
0.6 MILES WEST OF LA 28, Vernon, LA
Over: GREYS CREEK
3.06 MI. WEST OF LA 465, Vernon, LA
Over: CASTOR BAYOU
5.4 MI NORTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: CASTOR BAYOU
5.4 MI NORTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: SALES BRANCH
.25 MI NORTH OF LA 1211, Vernon, LA
Over: WEST ANACOCO CREEK
11.6 MI NORTH OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Over: WEST ANACOCO CREEK
11.6 MI NORTH OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Over: SIX MILE CREEK
1.21 MI. WEST OF LA 463, Vernon, LA
Over: BLUE CREEK
2.9 M. E. W. JCT. LA 392, Vernon, LA
Over: TEN MILE CREEK
6.1 MI EAST OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: FLOCTAW CREEK
4.99 MI. WEST OF LA 465, Vernon, LA
Over: MILL CREEK
0.2 MILES WEST OF LA 489, Vernon, LA
Over: NORTH MILL CREEK
1.4 MILES WEST OF LA 489, Vernon, LA
Over: BRUSHY CREEK
1.52 MI EAST OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: CASTOR BAYOU
0.8 MI E OF LA 1211, Vernon, LA
Over: LITTLE BRUSHY CREEK
3.0 MI. EAST OF LA 399, Vernon, LA
Over: VERNON LAKE
2.09 MI. SOUTH OF LA 111, Vernon, LA
Over: FLAT CREEK
1.76 M. W. OF JCT. US171, Vernon, LA
Over: MILL CREEK
4.3 MILES S.E. OF LA 489, Vernon, LA
Over: CREEK
3.75 MI S OF LA 28, Vernon, LA
Over: FLOCTAW CREEK
3.7 MI S OF LA 28, Vernon, LA
Over: CLEAR RUNNER BRANCH
4.1 MI S OF LA 28, Vernon, LA
Over: CREEK
1.53 MI E OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Over: CREEK
3.9 MI S OF LA 28, Vernon, LA
Over: BURTON CREEK
2.32 MI E OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Over: CREEK
3.52 MI E OF LA 8, Vernon, LA
Over: MENACE CREEK
0.4 M E OF LA 465, Vernon, LA
Over: WHISKEY CHITTO CREEK
5.72 MI. SOUTH OF LA 10, Vernon, LA
Over: BIG BRANCH CREEK
1.7 MILES NE OF LA 392, Vernon, LA
Over: UNNAMED BRANCH
4.17 MI EAST JCT US 171, Vernon, LA
Over: Drainage Creek
1.42 MI E of LA 467, Vernon, LA
Over: Drainage Creek
1.42 MI E of LA 467, Vernon, LA
Over: Liberty Creek
0.1 Mi S of LA 468, Vernon, LA
Over: Liberty Creek
0.1 Mi S of LA 468, Vernon, LA
Over: CYPRESS BAYOU
3.9 MI. EAST OF LA 465, Vernon, LA
Over: TEN MILE CREEK TRIB.
3.64 MI. EAST OF LA 377, Vernon, LA
Over: DRAIN
.71 MI E OF W JCT LA 392, Vernon, LA
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.