County profile · official public datasets

Hughes County, OK

207 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42% rated Good, 49.3% Fair, 8.7% Poor.

207
Public bridges: 42%
Good condition: 8.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 77 on Poor share: 8.7%
Poor-condition share: 207
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Hughes County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hughes County ranks #51 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.7%). Hughes County, Oklahoma contains 207 public highway bridges. Roughly 42% are rated “Good,” 49.3% “Fair,” and 8.7% “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

207

Public highway bridges in Hughes County

Good condition

42%

87 of 207 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.3%

102 of 207 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.7%

18 of 207 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 77

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

Condition distribution

Share of 207 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42% (87)

Fair

49.3% (102)

Poor

8.7% (18)

Hughes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,815 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 156 crossings a day against 892 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 207 of 207 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.6% of Hughes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 207 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 42% 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 19.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

3220C over LITTLE SANDY CREEK, built 1947, carries 555 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,815 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

41
1940s

17
1950s

4
1960s

11
1970s

9
1980s

23
1990s

27
2000s

30
2010s

33
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Oklahoma average (1977).

How Hughes County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Hughes County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 76 Oklahoma counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hughes County and the 5 Oklahoma counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	215	36.3%	52.6%	11.2%	1983
Cotton County	213	43.7%	53.1%	3.3%	1980
Hughes County (this page)	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
Latimer County	199	58.8%	35.2%	6%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OK (207 bridges here).

Marin County, CA · 207 bridges
Las Animas County, CO · 207 bridges
Shelby County, IA · 207 bridges
Washington County, IA · 207 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 207 Good 87 Fair 102 Poor 18

All bridges (207)

Sort:

Hughes County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hughes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,815 vehicle crossings a day

38.6% of Hughes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hughes County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (207)

3232C

3206C

E1360

E1270

E1230

N3690

3270C

N3920

3272C

N3920

3236C

3236C

3212C

3218C

3218C

3224C

3224C

E1260

E1260

N3880

3224C

3220C

E1320

N3880

3206C

N3802

E1510

3210C

3210C

3208C

E1270

N3720

D3846

S.H. 84

3232C

N3766

E1540

S.H. 48

N3760

N3780

E1220

S.H. 48

E1200

3232C

3232C

3232C

U.S. 75

3260C

S.H. 48

E1250

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