County profile · official public datasets

Prentiss County, MS

205 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.8% rated Good, 26.3% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

205
Public bridges: 68.8%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Prentiss County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 49%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 205
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.

Prentiss County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Prentiss County ranks #40 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Prentiss County, Mississippi contains 205 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.8% are rated “Good,” 26.3% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

205

Public highway bridges in Prentiss County

Good condition

68.8%

141 of 205 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.3%

54 of 205 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

10 of 205 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#40 of 82

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

Condition distribution

Share of 205 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

68.8% (141)

Fair

26.3% (54)

Poor

4.9% (10)

Prentiss County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,086 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 409 crossings a day against 1,578 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 205 of 205 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.3% of Prentiss County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 205 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 68.8% 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 53.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MARKET STREET over KCS RAILROAD, built 1959, carries 2,200 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,086 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1950s

24
1960s

19
1970s

15
1980s

38
1990s

49
2000s

28
2010s

22
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 49 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.9% 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 Prentiss County compares with Mississippi's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Prentiss County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 3rd-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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Prentiss County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Amite County	210	69%	21.4%	9.5%	1987
Prentiss County (this page)	205	68.8%	26.3%	4.9%	1987
Union County	202	53.5%	45%	1.5%	1990
Marion County	201	72.1%	22.9%	5%	1987
Noxubee County	201	50.2%	45.8%	4%	1985
Simpson County	200	63.5%	30%	6.5%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (205 bridges here).

Geneva County, AL · 205 bridges
Russell County, AL · 205 bridges
Wilson County, KS · 205 bridges
Bell County, KY · 205 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.

All 205 Good 141 Fair 54 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (141)

Sort:

Prentiss County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Prentiss County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,086 vehicle crossings a day

27.3% of Prentiss County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 53.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Prentiss 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 (141)

COUNTY ROAD 3450

SR 370

SR 30

SR 30

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

COUNTY ROAD 1371

SR 371

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

CR 7301

COUNTY ROAD 5334

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

SR 145

SR 4

SR 366

COUNTY ROAD 7371

CR 5300

CR 33

SR 145

CR 3231

CR 5091

SR 370

SR 370

SR 364

COUNTY ROAD 3440

CR 4101

SR 145

CR 1001

CR 3250

COUNTY ROAD 5051

CR 8500

CR 6200

SR 366

SR 30

SR 145

COUNTY ROAD 5310

CR 7321

CR 1021

COUNTY ROAD 7030

COUNTY ROAD 5061

CR 2160

COUNTY ROAD 7461

COUNTY ROAD 3371

COUNTY ROAD 3440

COUNTY ROAD 1151

CR 1121

COUNTY ROAD 1121

CR 1121

CR 4050

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