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.

When Bolivar County's bridges were built

272 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Forrest County 283 4.2%
Bolivar County (this page) 272 8.1%
Yazoo County 271 12.5%
Jackson County 268 2.6%
Copiah County 266 4.9%
DeSoto County 266 1.9%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (272)

HERBISON ROAD

Poor

Over: ICY BOGUE CREEK

SEC 16 T21N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1973 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 60

LAUGHLIN ROAD

Poor

Over: CAMP SLOUGH CANAL

SEC 29 T22N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1973 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 20

MARBERRY ROAD

Poor

Over: BIG BRADFORD BAYOU

SEC 11 T23N R 6W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1974 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100

MARBERRY ROAD

Poor

Over: BIG BRADFORD BAYOU

SEC 12 T23N R 6W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1974 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100

RAILROAD AVE.

Poor

Over: TRIB OF BOGUE PHALIA

SEC 31 T23N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1964 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 120

BULLOCK ROAD

Poor

Over: BCH OF SNAKE CREEK

SEC 28 T24N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1973 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 130

HOWDEN LAKE ROAD

Poor

Over: HOWDEN LAKE SPILLWAY

SEC 10 T25N R 5W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1974 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 80

HARRIS ROAD

Poor

Over: TURN BAYOU

SEC 25 T25N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1981 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 40

MOODY ROAD

Poor

Over: LITTLE MOUND BAYOU

SEC 28 T24N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1973 Load: 2.8 t ADT: 80

LITTON ROAD

Poor

Over: BCH OF PECAN BAYOU

SEC 19 T21N R 5W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1968 Load: 4.1 t ADT: 300

COLLEGE ST

Poor

Over: BEAR PEN CANAL

SEC 19 T22N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 2000 Load: 4.1 t ADT: 350

BOND-BUSBY ROAD

Poor

Over: SNAKE CREEK

SEC 17 T22N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1970 Load: 4.1 t ADT: 40

PEMBLE ROAD

Poor

Over: BCH OF BOGUE PHALIA CK

SEC 18 T23N R 6W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1971 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 80

SAWMILL ROAD

Poor

Over: PORTER BAYOU

SEC 33 T21N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1994 Load: 10.6 t ADT: 50

LEE STREET

Poor

Over: JONES BAYOU

SEC 32 T22N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1978 Load: 11.3 t ADT: 140

LAUGHLIN ROAD

Poor

Over: BCH OF EAST BOGUE HASTY

SEC 25 T22N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1969 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 160

NORTH BOGUE ROAD

Poor

Over: BOGUE PHALIA CREEK

SEC 10 T23N R 7W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1975 Load: 15.8 t ADT: 60

BOOGA BOTTEM ROAD

Poor

Over: PECAN BAYOU

SEC 23 T25N R 5W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1982 Load: 21.2 t ADT: 60

RAILROAD AVENUE

Poor

Over: BRANCH OF PORTER BAYOU

SEC 1 T20N R 6W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1974 Load: 21.3 t ADT: 320

GIBERT ROAD

Poor

Over: PECAN BAYOU CUT

SEC 25 T21N R 6W B, Bolivar, MS

Built 1969 Load: 21.3 t ADT: 210

WALTON ROAD

Poor

Over: THOUSAND YARD BAYOU

SEC 8 T22N R 7W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1973 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 60

PHALIA ROAD

Poor

Over: BOGUE PHALIA CREEK

SEC 25 T24N R 7W, Bolivar, MS

Built 1997 Load: 26.6 t ADT: 10

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.