County profile · official public datasets

Kemper County, MS

211 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.2% rated Good, 37% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

211
Public bridges: 60.2%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kemper County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 211
public highway bridges: 1991
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.

Kemper County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kemper County ranks #21 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Kemper County, Mississippi contains 211 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.2% are rated “Good,” 37% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

211

Public highway bridges in Kemper County

Good condition

60.2%

127 of 211 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37%

78 of 211 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

6 of 211 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 82

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

Condition distribution

Share of 211 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.2% (127)

Fair

37% (78)

Poor

2.8% (6)

Kemper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,850 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 475 crossings a day against 987 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 211 of 211 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

13.3% of Kemper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

28 of the 211 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 60.2% 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 59.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 39 over PAWTICFAW CREEK, built 1950, carries 1,700 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,850 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

2
1950s

10
1960s

10
1970s

21
1980s

41
1990s

66
2000s

47
2010s

9
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 66 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1991, 5 years newer than the Mississippi average of 1986.

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

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Kemper County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1991 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kemper County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Alcorn County	213	64.8%	33.8%	1.4%	1991
Calhoun County	213	48.8%	40.8%	10.3%	1985
Holmes County	212	52.4%	39.6%	8%	1988
Pike County	211	55.5%	38.9%	5.7%	1984
Kemper County (this page)	211	60.2%	37%	2.8%	1991
Amite County	210	69%	21.4%	9.5%	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 Kemper 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 Kemper County, both outside Mississippi so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (211 bridges here).

Colusa County, CA · 211 bridges
Charlotte County, FL · 211 bridges
Barton County, MO · 211 bridges
Adams County, NE · 211 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1991 here).

Denver County, CO · avg 1991 · 458 bridges
Baldwin County, AL · avg 1991 · 381 bridges
Union County, NC · avg 1991 · 353 bridges
Rock County, MN · avg 1991 · 265 bridges

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

All 211 Good 127 Fair 78 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (78)

Sort:

Kemper County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kemper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,850 vehicle crossings a day

13.3% of Kemper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kemper 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 (78)

SCIPLES MILL ROAD

LIMERICK RD

KIPLING RD

SR 397

SR 397

FAS546 KELLIS STOR

SR 39

KEMPER SPRINGS RD

FRAZIER GROVE

FAS543 KIPLING RD

LIBERTY 495 ROAD

OLD DEKALB-SCOOBA

OLD SCOOBA ROAD

KITTRELL SWAMP RD

US 45

FAS437 OLD JACKSON

FAS437 OLD JACKSON

FAS437 OLD JACKSON

OLD JACKSON RD

FIRETOWER RD.

SR 16

MOORE RD

SR 16

IRR BIA RTE 233

THOMAS MILL POND

IRR BIA RTE 233

IRR BIA RTE 233

IRR BIA RTE 2353

ST. JOHNS RD.

OAK GROVE RD.

WAHALAK RD

COW CREEK ROAD

FAS549 TOWNSEND RD

BLACKWATER 493 RD

HWY 498 EAST

HOPEWELL ROAD

MELLEN ROAD

TILMAN ROAD

OLD JACKSON ROAD

OLD JACKSON ROAD

OLD JACKSON ROAD

GAINES WHITE ROAD

BAY SPRINGS ROAD

ZION RD.

ZION RD.

SWEARINGEN ROAD

ROSSIE COATS ROAD

SHILOH CHURCH RD

KEY MOUNTAIN ROAD

KEY MOUNTAIN ROAD

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