County profile · official public datasets

Cannon County, TN

159 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.9% rated Good, 43.4% Fair, 10.7% Poor.

159
Public bridges: 45.9%
Good condition: 10.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

91st
of 95 on Poor share: 10.7%
Poor-condition share: 159
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.

Cannon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cannon County ranks #91 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.7%). Cannon County, Tennessee contains 159 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.9% are rated “Good,” 43.4% “Fair,” and 10.7% “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

159

Public highway bridges in Cannon County

Good condition

45.9%

73 of 159 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.4%

69 of 159 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.7%

17 of 159 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#91 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 159 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.9% (73)

Fair

43.4% (69)

Poor

10.7% (17)

Cannon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,836 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,520 crossings a day against 1,235 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 159 of 159 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.4% of Cannon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 159 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 45.9% 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 56.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 1 over EAST FORK STONES RIVER, built 1924, carries 14,614 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 25,836 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

11
1930s

9
1940s

8
1950s

16
1960s

23
1970s

6
1980s

42
1990s

18
2000s

10
2010s

12
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.4% 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 Cannon County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Cannon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.7% Poor share is the 6th-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 Cannon County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Unicoi County	161	46%	49.1%	5%	1984
Warren County	160	48.1%	48.1%	3.8%	1976
Roane County	159	48.4%	49.7%	1.9%	1972
Cannon County (this page)	159	45.9%	43.4%	10.7%	1974
Franklin County	157	42.7%	53.5%	3.8%	1980
Perry County	153	23.5%	75.2%	1.3%	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 Cannon 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 Cannon County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (159 bridges here).

Franklin County, IN · 159 bridges
Decatur County, KS · 159 bridges
Cheyenne County, NE · 159 bridges
Morgan County, OH · 159 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 159 Good 73 Fair 69 Poor 17

All bridges (159)

Sort:

Cannon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cannon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,836 vehicle crossings a day

43.4% of Cannon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cannon 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

All bridges (159)

NFA A001

NFA A307

NFA A385

NFA A009

NFA A013

NFA A330

NFA A303

NFA A013

NFA A292

NFA A233

NFA A004

NFA A033

NFA A044

NFA A131

NFA A402

NFA A141

NFA A329

NFA A054 (SA 0817)

NFA A078

NFA A406

FAP 53

FAP 53

NFA A216

NFA 2126 (SA 0813)

FAP 53

NFA A053

NFA A008

NFA A028

NFA A228

NFA A395

FAS 145

FAP 99

NFA 1376

NFA A002

NFA A066

NFA A196

NFA A239

FAP 53

FAS 145

NFA A022

FAP 53

NFA A038

NFA A117

NFA A204

NFA 2145 (SA 0809)

NFA A023

NFA A034

NFA A061

NFA A066

NFA A076

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