Total bridges
248
Public highway bridges in Lowndes County
County profile · official public datasets
Lowndes County, MS
248 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 76.2% rated Good, 21% Fair, 2.8% Poor.
- 248
- Public bridges
- 76.2%
- Good condition
- 2.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lowndes County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 24%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 248
- 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.
Lowndes County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lowndes County ranks #20 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Lowndes County, Mississippi contains 248 public highway bridges. Roughly 76.2% are rated “Good,” 21% “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.
Good condition
76.2%
189 of 248 rated 7-9
Fair condition
21%
52 of 248 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.8%
7 of 248 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#20 of 82
Among Mississippi counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 248 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 76.2% (189)
Fair 21% (52)
Poor 2.8% (7)
Lowndes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,440 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.1% 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 1,634 crossings a day against 3,441 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 248 of 248 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
25.4% of Lowndes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
63 of the 248 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 76.2% 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 38.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR 50 over TOMBIGBEE RELIEF, built 1959, carries 4,400 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 11,440 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lowndes County's bridges were built
248 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 12
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
31 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
43 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
39 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
50 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
39 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
26 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% 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).
How Lowndes County compares with Mississippi's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Lowndes County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 81 Mississippi counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette County | 259 | 41.7% | 54.1% | 4.2% | 1990 |
| Marshall County | 255 | 44.7% | 47.8% | 7.5% | 1993 |
| Lowndes County (this page) | 248 | 76.2% | 21% | 2.8% | 1987 |
| Chickasaw County | 247 | 57.5% | 36% | 6.5% | 1984 |
| Newton County | 243 | 46.1% | 49% | 4.9% | 1982 |
| Pearl River County | 232 | 74.6% | 22.4% | 3% | 1986 |
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 Lowndes 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 Lowndes County, both outside Mississippi so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MS (248 bridges here).
- Crawford County, AR · 248 bridges
- Cherokee County, IA · 248 bridges
- Poweshiek County, IA · 248 bridges
- Herkimer County, NY · 248 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1987 here).
- St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
- Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
- St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
- Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (7)
US 82 FRONTAGE RD
PoorOver: MAYO CREEK
7.8 MI E US 45A, Lowndes, MS
Built 1935 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 310
OLD MACON ROAD
PoorOver: GILMER CREEK
SEC 32 T18N R18E B, Lowndes, MS
Built 1989 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 30
CANAL ROAD
PoorOver: SAND CREEK
SEC 12 T18N R15E, Lowndes, MS
Built 1999 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100
WATERWORKS ROAD
PoorOver: LUXAPALILA CREEK
SEC 11 T18N R18W, Lowndes, MS
Built 1955 Load: 14.0 t ADT: 4,000
CALEDONIA STEENS R
PoorOver: YELLOW CREEK
SEC 21 T17S R17W B, Lowndes, MS
Built 1984 Load: 36.9 t ADT: 1,100
GUN SHOOT ROAD
PoorOver: LUXAPALILA RIVER
SEC 28 T17S R17W B, Lowndes, MS
Built 1981 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 1,500
SR 50
PoorOver: TOMBIGBEE RELIEF
1.1 MI W SR 373, Lowndes, MS
Built 1959 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 4,400
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.