County profile · official public datasets

Anderson County, TN

175 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.1% rated Good, 71.4% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

175
Public bridges: 25.1%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 175
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Anderson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Anderson County ranks #43 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Anderson County, Tennessee contains 175 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.1% are rated “Good,” 71.4% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

175

Public highway bridges in Anderson County

Good condition

25.1%

44 of 175 rated 7-9

Fair condition

71.4%

125 of 175 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

6 of 175 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#43 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 175 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.1% (44)

Fair

71.4% (125)

Poor

3.4% (6)

Anderson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,591 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 432 crossings a day against 6,360 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 175 of 175 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.4% of Anderson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

97 of the 175 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 25.1% 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 50.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAU 4365 over BRANCH, built 1970, carries 1,304 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,591 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

8
1940s

15
1950s

5
1960s

29
1970s

47
1980s

28
1990s

19
2000s

6
2010s

11
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

How Anderson County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Anderson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Anderson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Marion County	177	53.7%	42.9%	3.4%	1971
Anderson County (this page)	175	25.1%	71.4%	3.4%	1974
Macon County	169	69.8%	25.4%	4.7%	1983
Stewart County	168	56.5%	43.5%	0%	1977
Crockett County	167	44.9%	54.5%	0.6%	1985
Putnam County	167	50.9%	46.7%	2.4%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (175 bridges here).

Smith County, MS · 175 bridges
Warren County, MS · 175 bridges
Hamilton County, NE · 175 bridges
San Miguel County, NM · 175 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1974 here).

Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Pierce County, WA · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 175 Good 44 Fair 125 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (44)

Sort:

Anderson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Anderson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,591 vehicle crossings a day

55.4% of Anderson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Anderson County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (44)

FAP 61

FAP 61

NFA E516

NFA 1268 (SA 0114)

NFA 2444 347463J

FAP 61

NFA 2444 (SA 0102)

NFA 2460

NFA 2462

NFA 2462

NFA 2462

NFA 2462

NFA A002

NFA A002

NFA A004

NFA A011

NFA A012

NFA A067

NFA A081

NFA A088

NFA A141

NFA A182

NFA E516

NFA A390

NFA A391 347483V

NFA A396

NFA A460

NFA B235

NFA B235

NFA E488

NFA A504

I75

NFA B183

NFA 1268 (SA 0114)

NFA 1268 (SA 0114)

NFA 1297 (SA 0117)

FAP 9

FAP 62

FAP 95

FAP 95

FAS 116

FAS 116

FAP 61

FAP 61

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