County profile · official public datasets

Bedford County, TN

294 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.5% rated Good, 38.8% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

294
Public bridges: 58.5%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 294
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Bedford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bedford County ranks #30 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Bedford County, Tennessee contains 294 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.5% are rated “Good,” 38.8% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

294

Public highway bridges in Bedford County

Good condition

58.5%

172 of 294 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.8%

114 of 294 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

8 of 294 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#30 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 294 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.5% (172)

Fair

38.8% (114)

Poor

2.7% (8)

Bedford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,771 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 471 crossings a day against 2,644 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 294 of 294 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48% of Bedford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

141 of the 294 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 58.5% 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 40.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 269 over GARRISON FORK CREEK, built 1940, carries 1,517 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,771 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

13
1940s

30
1950s

39
1960s

39
1970s

25
1980s

69
1990s

21
2000s

21
2010s

23
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 69 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Bedford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bedford County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Greene County	306	30.4%	67%	2.6%	1974
Lincoln County	304	52.6%	44.4%	3%	1974
Bedford County (this page)	294	58.5%	38.8%	2.7%	1973
Washington County	284	48.6%	48.9%	2.5%	1976
Wayne County	274	24.1%	72.3%	3.6%	1987
Sevier County	273	54.6%	43.2%	2.2%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (294 bridges here).

Franklin County, PA · 294 bridges
Cass County, IA · 295 bridges
Ottawa County, KS · 295 bridges
Boone County, IN · 293 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges

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

All 294 Good 172 Fair 114 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (114)

Sort:

Bedford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bedford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,771 vehicle crossings a day

48% of Bedford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bedford 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

Fair-condition bridges (114)

FAS 130

FAS 130

FAS 130

FAS 130

FAS 130

FAS 130

NFA 1038 (SA 0221)

NFA A044

NFA A270

NFA 2004 (SA 0219)

FAP 16

NFA A316

FAP 10

FAP 16

NFA 2010 (SA 0215)

NFA A258

FAP 16

FAS 82

NFA 2010 (SA 0215)

NFA A103

NFA A235

NFA A285

FAS 82

NFA A094

NFA A260

NFA A374 (SA 0205)

FAS 269

FAP 16

NFA A266

FAP 10

NFA 2005 (SA 0211)

NFA 2006 (SA 0203)

NFA 2007 (SA 0206)

NFA 2007 (SA 0206)

NFA A055

NFA A097 (SA 0224)

NFA A108

NFA A129

NFA A153

NFA A168

NFA A195

NFA A195

NFA A197

NFA A285

NFA A373

NFA A675

NFA B001

NFA 1032 (SA 0201)

NFA 1432 (SA 0207)

FAS 269

Related