County profile · official public datasets

Payne County, OK

384 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24% rated Good, 65.6% Fair, 10.4% Poor.

384
Public bridges: 24%
Good condition: 10.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

56th
of 77 on Poor share: 10.4%
Poor-condition share: 384
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Payne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Payne County ranks #56 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.4%). Payne County, Oklahoma contains 384 public highway bridges. Roughly 24% are rated “Good,” 65.6% “Fair,” and 10.4% “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

384

Public highway bridges in Payne County

Good condition

24%

92 of 384 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.6%

252 of 384 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.4%

40 of 384 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 77

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

Condition distribution

Share of 384 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24% (92)

Fair

65.6% (252)

Poor

10.4% (40)

Payne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,363 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 434 crossings a day against 3,047 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 384 of 384 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.4% of Payne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

132 of the 384 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 24% 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 28.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S.H. 51 WB over CREEK, built 1975, carries 4,950 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 40-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 17,363 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

18
1930s

30
1940s

13
1950s

26
1960s

16
1970s

37
1980s

34
1990s

86
2000s

56
2010s

49
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 86 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1982, 5 years newer than the Oklahoma average of 1977.

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

The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Payne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Payne County and the 5 Oklahoma counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Muskogee County	398	37.7%	52.3%	10.1%	1971
Creek County	395	40.5%	38.7%	20.8%	1972
Alfalfa County	387	27.4%	66.1%	6.5%	1988
Custer County	384	73.2%	25.5%	1.3%	1982
Payne County (this page)	384	24%	65.6%	10.4%	1982
Stephens County	382	29.1%	68.1%	2.9%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OK (384 bridges here).

Bristol County, MA · 384 bridges
Lee County, MS · 385 bridges
Hillsborough County, NH · 385 bridges
Trumbull County, OH · 383 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1982 here).

Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 384 Good 92 Fair 252 Poor 40

All bridges (384)

Sort:

Payne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Payne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,363 vehicle crossings a day

34.4% of Payne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Payne 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 (384)

MT. VERNON RD.

HARMONY RD.

COUNTRY CLUB LN.

ESECO

PLEASANT VY(N3200)

92ND ST (E0690)

SANGRE RD.

CO. RD. E0670

92ND ST. (E0690)

E0606 (REDBUD)

MCELROY RD.

80TH ST (E0680)

92ND ST (E0690)

AIRPORT RD.

LAWSON RD(N3540)

122ND ST (E0715)

19TH ST. (E0630)

E0610

S.H. 51

S.H. 51

E0560

140TH ST.

NORFOLK RD.

WESTERN AVE.

CIMARRON TP

SOUTH WEST ST.

CO. RD. E0600

E0610

BURKHART RD

GLENCOE RD(E0550)

LONE CHIMNEY

44TH ST.

LONE CHIMNEY(E0540

BROADWAY

MAIN ST.

N3460 CLAY RD

N3440

CO. RD. E0690

CO. RD. E0680

CO. RD. E0630

VASSAR RD (N3220)

140TH ST. (E0730)

68TH ST (E0670)

LAKEVIEW RD(E0600)

MCELROY RD.

COYLE RD (N3240)

MAIN ST (E0632)

LAKEVIEW RD(E0600)

COYLE RD (N3240)

COYLE RD (N3240)

Related