Total bridges
382
Public highway bridges in Stephens County
County profile · official public datasets
Stephens County, OK
382 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.1% rated Good, 68.1% Fair, 2.9% Poor.
- 382
- Public bridges
- 29.1%
- Good condition
- 2.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Stephens County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 22%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 382
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Stephens County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Stephens County ranks #17 of 77 Oklahoma counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Stephens County, Oklahoma contains 382 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.1% are rated “Good,” 68.1% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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.
Good condition
29.1%
111 of 382 rated 7-9
Fair condition
68.1%
260 of 382 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.9%
11 of 382 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#17 of 77
Among Oklahoma counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 382 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 29.1% (111)
Fair 68.1% (260)
Poor 2.9% (11)
Stephens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,074 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 370 crossings a day against 1,755 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 382 of 382 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
30.6% of Stephens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
117 of the 382 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 29.1% 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 34.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
6972C over CREEK, built 1927, carries 1,407 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 4,074 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Stephens County's bridges were built
382 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s
1920–1929
36 bridges
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 16
1940–1949
16 bridges
- 1950s 27
1950–1959
27 bridges
- 1960s 19
1960–1969
19 bridges
- 1970s 23
1970–1979
23 bridges
- 1980s 27
1980–1989
27 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
75 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
64 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
68 bridges
- 2020s 18
2020–2029
18 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 75 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Oklahoma average of 1977.
How Stephens County compares with Oklahoma's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Oklahoma counties nearest Stephens County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 6 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 76 Oklahoma counties eligible for comparison.
| 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 | 384 | 24% | 65.6% | 10.4% | 1982 |
| Stephens County (this page) | 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 Stephens 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 Stephens County, both outside Oklahoma so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside OK (382 bridges here).
- Jasper County, IA · 382 bridges
- Orleans County, LA · 382 bridges
- Trumbull County, OH · 383 bridges
- Webb County, TX · 383 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside OK (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (11)
E1732 (ASH AVE)
PoorOver: CREEK
BETW 3RD & 5 ST, Stephens, OK
Built 1940 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 150
E1680
PoorOver: CREEK
1.S .2W 81 & 7, Stephens, OK
Built 1950 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 100
E1770
PoorOver: CREEK
.6E SH7 IN VELMA, Stephens, OK
Built 1925 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 500
6972C
PoorOver: CREEK
1.7 MI W OF VELMA, Stephens, OK
Built 1927 Load: 14.9 t ADT: 1,407
E1770
PoorOver: CREEK
.3N .8W SH7 CO LINE, Stephens, OK
Built 1925 Load: 15.7 t ADT: 100
E1738 (MAGNOLIA AV
PoorOver: WILLOW CREEK
BETW 5TH & 6TH, Stephens, OK
Built 1940 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 983
E1770
PoorOver: WILLOW CREEK
.8E US 81 2.9S SH 7, Stephens, OK
Built 1993 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 200
6978C
PoorOver: SALT CREEK
12.0 MI E BRAY, Stephens, OK
Built 1939 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 100
E1770
PoorOver: CREEK
9.1W US 81 6.N SH 53, Stephens, OK
Built 1997 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 224
6918C
PoorOver: LITTLE BEAVER CREEK
8.5 MI W OF DUNCAN, Stephens, OK
Built 1940 Load: 23.8 t ADT: 210
N3050
PoorOver: CREEK
5.0 MI N OF SH 7, Stephens, OK
Built 1997 Load: 28.1 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.