County profile · official public datasets

Clarke County, MS

224 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.7% rated Good, 44.6% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

224
Public bridges: 48.7%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clarke County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

56th
of 82 on Poor share: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 224
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Clarke County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clarke County ranks #56 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Clarke County, Mississippi contains 224 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.7% are rated “Good,” 44.6% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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.

Total bridges

224

Public highway bridges in Clarke County

Good condition

48.7%

109 of 224 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.6%

100 of 224 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

15 of 224 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 82

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

Condition distribution

Share of 224 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.7% (109)

Fair

44.6% (100)

Poor

6.7% (15)

Clarke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,265 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 551 crossings a day against 1,718 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 224 of 224 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.3% of Clarke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

79 of the 224 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 48.7% 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 15.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 11 over ALLEN CREEK, built 1937, carries 1,300 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,265 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

14
1940s

4
1950s

8
1960s

33
1970s

43
1980s

38
1990s

36
2000s

31
2010s

9
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Mississippi average of 1986.

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

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Clarke County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clarke County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Panola County	231	28.6%	65.8%	5.6%	1981
Itawamba County	229	65.1%	31.4%	3.5%	1987
Attala County	228	67.5%	27.2%	5.3%	1985
Oktibbeha County	226	68.6%	27.9%	3.5%	1988
Carroll County	225	37.8%	40.9%	21.3%	1981
Clarke County (this page)	224	48.7%	44.6%	6.7%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (224 bridges here).

Conecuh County, AL · 224 bridges
Sac County, IA · 224 bridges
Riley County, KS · 224 bridges
Sullivan County, MO · 224 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 224 Good 109 Fair 100 Poor 15

Good-condition bridges (109)

Sort:

Clarke County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clarke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,265 vehicle crossings a day

35.3% of Clarke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clarke 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

Good-condition bridges (109)

US 11

US 11

SR 512

CO RD 690

RAMP

CO RD 147

CO RD 432

US 11

SR 512

CO RD 275

CO RD 514

CO RD 514

CO RD 140

SR 512

CO RD 280

CO RD 320

CO RD 360

US 11

CO RD 150

US 45

US 45

CO RD 370

CO RD 147

US 11

I 59

I 59

I 59

I 59

I 59

US 11

SR 512

I 59

I 59

SR 512

CO RD 632

CO RD 624

CO RD 295

CO RD 643

CO RD 432

SR 512

COUNTY ROAD 371

CO RD 210

SR 512

SR 512

US 11

CR 290

CO RD 252

CO RD 638

CO RD 456

US 11

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