County profile · official public datasets

Blount County, TN

215 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63.7% rated Good, 33.5% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

215
Public bridges: 63.7%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 35%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 215
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.

Blount County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Blount County ranks #33 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Blount County, Tennessee contains 215 public highway bridges. Roughly 63.7% are rated “Good,” 33.5% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

215

Public highway bridges in Blount County

Good condition

63.7%

137 of 215 rated 7-9

Fair condition

33.5%

72 of 215 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

6 of 215 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 215 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63.7% (137)

Fair

33.5% (72)

Poor

2.8% (6)

Blount County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,908 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,151 crossings a day against 8,682 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 215 of 215 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.5% of Blount County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

100 of the 215 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 63.7% 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 64.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 35 over SR 115 (US 129 NB), built 1959, carries 15,955 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 24,908 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

14
1940s

24
1950s

33
1960s

14
1970s

12
1980s

34
1990s

24
2000s

31
2010s

13
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Blount County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Blount County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hardeman County	223	30%	67.3%	2.7%	1980
McMinn County	219	38.8%	58.4%	2.7%	1976
McNairy County	218	34.9%	62.4%	2.8%	1985
Coffee County	217	24.4%	66.4%	9.2%	1964
Blount County (this page)	215	63.7%	33.5%	2.8%	1974
Lawrence County	211	53.6%	44.5%	1.9%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (215 bridges here).

Lawrence County, AL · 215 bridges
Idaho County, ID · 215 bridges
Terrebonne County, LA · 215 bridges
Marshall County, MN · 215 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 215 Good 137 Fair 72 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (72)

Sort:

Blount County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Blount County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,908 vehicle crossings a day

46.5% of Blount County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Blount 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 (72)

NFA A553

NFA A553

NFA 1266 (SA 0501)

FAU 4442

NFA C110

NFA 1244 (SA 0511)

FAU 4443 (SA 0512)

FAP 35

FAU 4442

FAU 4442

FAP 115

FAP 73

FAP 73

FAP 73

FAP 73

FAP 115

FAP 162

FAP 33

GRSM INSTITUTE ENT

CADES COVE LOOP RO

NFA B202

FORGE CREEK ROAD

Related