County profile · official public datasets

DeSoto County, MS

266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 59.4% rated Good, 38.7% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

266
Public bridges: 59.4%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

DeSoto County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 16%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 266
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

DeSoto County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, DeSoto County ranks #13 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). DeSoto County, Mississippi contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 59.4% are rated “Good,” 38.7% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

266

Public highway bridges in DeSoto County

Good condition

59.4%

158 of 266 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.7%

103 of 266 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

5 of 266 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 82

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

Condition distribution

Share of 266 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

59.4% (158)

Fair

38.7% (103)

Poor

1.9% (5)

DeSoto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 52,000 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,400 crossings a day against 8,824 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 266 of 266 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

16.9% of DeSoto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

45 of the 266 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 59.4% 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 30.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 78 over SR 302, built 1967, carries 16,000 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 52,000 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

7
1950s

14
1960s

13
1970s

17
1980s

33
1990s

49
2000s

78
2010s

44
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 78 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the Mississippi average of 1986.

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

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest DeSoto County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for DeSoto County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bolivar County	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 (this page)	266	59.4%	38.7%	1.9%	1995
Lafayette County	259	41.7%	54.1%	4.2%	1990

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (266 bridges here).

Lauderdale County, AL · 266 bridges
Wayne County, IL · 266 bridges
Bremer County, IA · 266 bridges
Cerro Gordo County, IA · 266 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
Scotland County, MO · avg 1995 · 201 bridges

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

All 266 Good 158 Fair 103 Poor 5

All bridges (266)

Sort:

SR 178

Fair

Over: STREAM

1.1 MI W MARSHALL CL, DeSoto, MS

Built 1936 Load: 75.8 t ADT: 4,500

I 55

Fair

Over: ROCKY CREEK

1.5 MI S TENN ST LINE, DeSoto, MS

Built 1958 Load: 81.0 t ADT: 87,000

US 78

Fair

Over: CAMP CREEK

0.2 MI E SR 302, DeSoto, MS

DeSoto County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

DeSoto County's Poor-condition bridges carry 52,000 vehicle crossings a day

16.9% of DeSoto County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How DeSoto 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

All bridges (266)

SR 178

I 55

US 78

US 51

ROSS ROAD

BALDWIN ROAD

US 61

CRAFT ROAD

MCINGVALE ROAD

I 55

I 55

SR 302

OLD CRAFT ROAD

SR 302

I 69

I 69

I 69

I 69

HWY 301

SR 305

KIRK ROAD

SR 302

SR 305

I 69

I 69

SR 305

SR 302

ROBERTSON GIN ROAD

TULANE ROAD

FOGG ROAD

SR 301

SR 301

I55SB TO I69WB

JAYBIRD ROAD

TULANE ROAD

TULANE ROAD

NAIL ROAD

SR 304

SR 304

I 269

I 269

I 269

I 269

US 61

GREEN T ROAD

VAIDEN ROAD

HOLLY SPRINGS RD

HORN LAKE RD

INTERSTATE BLVD.

DEAN ROAD

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