Total bridges
283
Public highway bridges in Forrest County
County profile · official public datasets
Forrest County, MS
283 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.3% rated Good, 49.5% Fair, 4.2% Poor.
- 283
- Public bridges
- 46.3%
- Good condition
- 4.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Forrest County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 41%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 4.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 283
- public highway bridges
- 1982
- 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.
Forrest County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Forrest County ranks #34 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Forrest County, Mississippi contains 283 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.3% are rated “Good,” 49.5% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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.
Good condition
46.3%
131 of 283 rated 7-9
Fair condition
49.5%
140 of 283 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.2%
12 of 283 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#34 of 82
Among Mississippi counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 283 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 46.3% (131)
Fair 49.5% (140)
Poor 4.2% (12)
Forrest County's Poor-condition bridges carry 37,520 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,127 crossings a day against 5,524 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 282 of 283 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
32.9% of Forrest County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
93 of the 283 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 46.3% 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 64% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I 59 over US 49, built 1960, carries 24,000 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 37,520 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Forrest County's bridges were built
283 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s 23
1950–1959
23 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
47 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
29 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
62 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
47 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s 20
2010–2019
20 bridges
- 2020s 10
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Mississippi average (1986).
How Forrest County compares with Mississippi's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Forrest County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 7 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 81 Mississippi counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe County | 290 | 64.5% | 31.4% | 4.1% | 1989 |
| Forrest County (this page) | 283 | 46.3% | 49.5% | 4.2% | 1982 |
| 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 |
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 Forrest 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 Forrest County, both outside Mississippi so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MS (283 bridges here).
- Ashland County, OH · 283 bridges
- Cooke County, TX · 283 bridges
- Buchanan County, VA · 283 bridges
- Logan County, OK · 284 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1982 here).
- Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
- Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
- Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
- Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (12)
GEORGE STREET
PoorOver: MATTHEWS BRANCH
SEC 2 T 4N R13W, Forrest, MS
Built 1985 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 1,100
MCLEOD STREET
PoorOver: GORDONS CREEK
SEC 10 T 4N R13W, Forrest, MS
Built 1929 Load: 2.6 t ADT: 2,900
SUGGS ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH OF BIG CREEK
SEC 22 T 5N R14W, Forrest, MS
Built 1991 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 60
PETE ANDERSON LOOP
PoorOver: BRANCH OF BLACK CREEK
SEC 13 T 1N R12W, Forrest, MS
Built 1986 Load: 11.4 t ADT: 100
A SMITH ROAD
PoorOver: BIG CREEK
SEC 23 T 5N R14W, Forrest, MS
Built 1982 Load: 14.4 t ADT: 100
SULLIVAN DRIVE
PoorOver: PRIESTS CREEK
SEC 35 T 4N R13W, Forrest, MS
Built 1987 Load: 17.7 t ADT: 480
COUNTRY CLUB RD
PoorOver: US 49
4.6 MI S I 59, Forrest, MS
Built 1949 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 3,000
ELKS LAKE ROAD
PoorOver: PRIESTS CREEK
SEC 34 T 4N R13W B, Forrest, MS
Built 1954 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 2,000
TIPTON STREET
PoorOver: BRANCH OF BURKETTS CREEK
SEC 15 T 4N R13W, Forrest, MS
Built 1983 Load: 25.2 t ADT: 1,500
RED CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH OFF RED CREEK
SEC 33 T 1S R13W B, Forrest, MS
Built 1965 Load: 32.0 t ADT: 180
W L RUNNELLS ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH OF PRIESTS CREEK
SEC 35 T 4N R13W, Forrest, MS
Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,100
I 59
PoorOver: US 49
I 59 OVER US 49, Forrest, MS
Built 1960 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 24,000
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.