County profile · official public datasets

Sunflower County, MS

169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.7% rated Good, 21.9% Fair, 25.4% Poor.

169
Public bridges: 52.7%
Good condition: 25.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sunflower County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

82nd
of 82 on Poor share: 25.4%
Poor-condition share: 169
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Sunflower County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sunflower County ranks #82 of 82 Mississippi counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.4%). Sunflower County, Mississippi contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.7% are rated “Good,” 21.9% “Fair,” and 25.4% “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

169

Public highway bridges in Sunflower County

Good condition

52.7%

89 of 169 rated 7-9

Fair condition

21.9%

37 of 169 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.4%

43 of 169 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#82 of 82

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

Condition distribution

Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.7% (89)

Fair

21.9% (37)

Poor

25.4% (43)

Sunflower County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,480 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 321 crossings a day against 544 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 168 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.9% of Sunflower County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 169 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 52.7% 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 29.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 82 over SUNFLOWER RIVER, built 1933, carries 3,950 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 43-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,480 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

12
1950s

8
1960s

16
1970s

53
1980s

18
1990s

32
2000s

8
2010s

14
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Mississippi average of 1986.

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

The 5 Mississippi counties nearest Sunflower County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sunflower County and the 5 Mississippi counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Greene County	171	64.9%	33.3%	1.8%	1990
Montgomery County	170	74.1%	22.9%	2.9%	1989
Sunflower County (this page)	169	52.7%	21.9%	25.4%	1981
Pontotoc County	166	62%	34.3%	3.6%	1987
Choctaw County	164	54.3%	37.2%	8.5%	1981
Covington County	164	80.5%	16.5%	3%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MS (169 bridges here).

Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
Union County, IA · 169 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MS (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 169 Good 89 Fair 37 Poor 43

Poor-condition bridges (43)

Sort:

Sunflower County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sunflower County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,480 vehicle crossings a day

34.9% of Sunflower County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sunflower 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

Poor-condition bridges (43)

THREE MILE LAKE RD

BRASWELL ROAD

BLAND ROAD

BRUMFIELD PLANTATI

EAST DELTA AVE.

S. SHEFFIELD ROAD

HOBBS BRICK ROAD

SUNFLWER-ITTA BENA

WATSON ROAD

NORTH SHEFIELD RD

HEATHMAN HOLLY R1D

FISACKERLY ROAD

DODD ROAD

MADDEN ROAD

CLARK ROAD

DONAHOE ROAD

DONAHOE ROAD

HUGHES ERTLE ROAD

BENSON LAKE ROAD

LYON BRIDGE ROAD

ADAIR ROAD

CEMETERY ROAD

WALKER ROAD

GIVENS ROAD

LINN DOCKERY ROAD

DOCKERY-RALPH RAY

BLACKWOOD ROAD

GRITTMAN ROAD

MCDANIELS ROAD

HOARD LAKE RD.

CLAY RIDGE ROAD

PATTERSON ROAD

WEST MINOT ROAD

WARD RIDDICK ROAD

WARD RIDDICK ROAD

JOE STEPHEN ROAD

RALPH RAY ROAD

BENSON LAKE ROAD

SR 8

SR 3

SR 32

US 82

US 49W

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