County profile · official public datasets

Bolivar County, MS

272 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.1% rated Good, 65.8% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

272
Public bridges: 26.1%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Bolivar County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

64th
of 82 on Poor share: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 272
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Bolivar County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bolivar County ranks #64 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Bolivar County, Mississippi contains 272 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.1% are rated “Good,” 65.8% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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

272

Public highway bridges in Bolivar County

Good condition

26.1%

71 of 272 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.8%

179 of 272 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.1%

22 of 272 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 82

Among Mississippi counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 272 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.1% (71)

Fair

65.8% (179)

Poor

8.1% (22)

Bolivar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,570 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 117 crossings a day against 598 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 272 of 272 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.9% of Bolivar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 272 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 26.1% 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 13.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COLLEGE ST over BEAR PEN CANAL, built 2000, carries 350 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,570 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

12
1960s

20
1970s

70
1980s

26
1990s

72
2000s

34
2010s

17
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 72 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Mississippi average (1986).

How Bolivar County compares with Mississippi's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Bolivar County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 81 Mississippi counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bolivar County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Forrest County	283	46.3%	49.5%	4.2%	1982
Bolivar County (this page)	272	26.1%	65.8%	8.1%	1987
Yazoo County	271	26.6%	60.9%	12.5%	1987
Jackson County	268	69.4%	28%	2.6%	1996
Copiah County	266	25.9%	69.2%	4.9%	1987
DeSoto County	266	59.4%	38.7%	1.9%	1995

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 Bolivar 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 Bolivar County, both outside Mississippi so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (272 bridges here).

Rock Island County, IL · 272 bridges
Berrien County, MI · 272 bridges
Morton County, ND · 272 bridges
Blaine County, OK · 272 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 272 Good 71 Fair 179 Poor 22

Fair-condition bridges (179)

Sort:

Bolivar County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bolivar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,570 vehicle crossings a day

30.9% of Bolivar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bolivar County compares with Mississippi's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (179)

SHELBY-DEESON ROAD

LAUGHLIN ROAD

FULLEN ROAD

SUNRISE DRIVE

BEULAH ROAD

NEWMAN ROAD

LONGSHOT ROAD

SHAW-SKENE ROAD

SCHMIDT ROAD

DITCH BANK ROAD

SHAW-SKENE ROAD

MARBERRY ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

SR 450

SANDPIT ROAD

NORTH BAYOU ROAD

CARTER ROAD

MERIGOLD-DREW RD.

CADE ROAD

SR 161

SOUTH ROSS ROAD

W.MOUND BAYOU ROAD

LEFLORE AVE

SR 450

SR 161

SOUTH BOGUE ROAD

LITTON ROAD

LITTON ROAD

LITTON ROAD

CHISHOLM ROAD

HOWARD ROAD

CLEVELAND CROSSING

EVANS ROAD

LONGSHOT ROAD

RENA LARA ROAD

GIBSON SWAMP ROAD

PEMBLE ROAD

SR 446

BEULAH ROAD

GIBERT ROAD

SR 1

LITTON ROAD

HENRY HALL RD

JONES BAYOU ROAD

SHAW-SKENE ROAD

SR 32

SR 446

SR 448

US 61

US 61

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