Total bridges
213
Public highway bridges in Cotton County
County profile · official public datasets
Cotton County, OK
213 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.7% rated Good, 53.1% Fair, 3.3% Poor.
- 213
- Public bridges
- 43.7%
- Good condition
- 3.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Cotton County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 25%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 213
- public highway bridges
- 1980
- 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.
Cotton County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cotton County ranks #19 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). Cotton County, Oklahoma contains 213 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.7% are rated “Good,” 53.1% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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
43.7%
93 of 213 rated 7-9
Fair condition
53.1%
113 of 213 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.3%
7 of 213 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#19 of 77
Among Oklahoma counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 213 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 43.7% (93)
Fair 53.1% (113)
Poor 3.3% (7)
Cotton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,644 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 235 crossings a day against 1,648 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 213 of 213 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
46% of Cotton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
98 of the 213 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 43.7% 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 56.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
U.S. 70 over CACHE CREEK, built 1955, carries 930 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 1,644 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Cotton County's bridges were built
213 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
26 bridges
- 1940s 12
1940–1949
12 bridges
- 1950s 12
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
43 bridges
- 1970s 4
1970–1979
4 bridges
- 1980s 17
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
34 bridges
- 2020s 11
2020–2029
11 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 43 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 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Oklahoma average (1977).
How Cotton County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Cotton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 76 Oklahoma counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choctaw County | 216 | 57.4% | 35.2% | 7.4% | 1973 |
| Washington County | 215 | 36.3% | 52.6% | 11.2% | 1983 |
| Cotton County (this page) | 213 | 43.7% | 53.1% | 3.3% | 1980 |
| Hughes County | 207 | 42% | 49.3% | 8.7% | 1978 |
| Cherokee County | 206 | 35% | 54.4% | 10.7% | 1978 |
| Okfuskee County | 204 | 39.7% | 53.4% | 6.9% | 1970 |
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 Cotton 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 Cotton County, both outside Oklahoma so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside OK (213 bridges here).
- Bonneville County, ID · 213 bridges
- Floyd County, IA · 213 bridges
- Calhoun County, MI · 213 bridges
- Alcorn County, MS · 213 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1980 here).
- Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
- Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
- McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
- Hinds County, MS · avg 1980 · 663 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (7)
N2660
PoorOver: CREEK
1. W 2.1 N OF SH 53, Cotton, OK
Built 1939 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 100
IRR N2622
PoorOver: CREEK
.2E 1.2N OF SH53/SH5, Cotton, OK
Built 2013 Load: 8.8 t ADT: 214
FAS 1720
PoorOver: CREEK
4N OF SH 53 / 2.7E SH5, Cotton, OK
Built 1920 Load: 14.7 t ADT: 100
N2460
PoorOver: CREEK
8. W .9 S OF US 281-SH5A, Cotton, OK
Built 1940 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 100
E1880
PoorOver: CREEK
1. N 8.8 W OF US 281-SH5A, Cotton, OK
Built 1940 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 100
U.S. 70
PoorOver: CACHE CREEK
12.5 E BAILEY T. P, Cotton, OK
Built 1955 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 930
E1780
PoorOver: CREEK
9. N 1.4 E OF SH 53-SH5, Cotton, OK
Built 1952 Load: 72.8 t ADT: 100
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.