County profile · official public datasets

Cheatham County, TN

128 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.8% rated Good, 50% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

128
Public bridges: 43.8%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

75th
of 95 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 128
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Cheatham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cheatham County ranks #75 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Cheatham County, Tennessee contains 128 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.8% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

128

Public highway bridges in Cheatham County

Good condition

43.8%

56 of 128 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

64 of 128 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

8 of 128 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 128 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.8% (56)

Fair

50% (64)

Poor

6.3% (8)

Cheatham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 110,941 vehicle crossings a day

That is 19% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 13,868 crossings a day against 5,185 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 128 of 128 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.7% of Cheatham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

70 of the 128 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 43.8% 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 48.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I40 over HARPETH RIVER, built 1960, carries 53,557 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 110,941 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

5
1940s

4
1950s

12
1960s

29
1970s

24
1980s

18
1990s

17
2000s

10
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Cheatham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Cheatham County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lewis County	136	19.1%	77.9%	2.9%	1979
Jackson County	131	39.7%	57.3%	3.1%	1978
Cheatham County (this page)	128	43.8%	50%	6.3%	1975
Chester County	127	38.6%	57.5%	3.9%	1983
Jefferson County	122	13.9%	74.6%	11.5%	1966
Morgan County	120	48.3%	45%	6.7%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (128 bridges here).

Custer County, ID · 128 bridges
Franklin County, ME · 128 bridges
Harper County, OK · 128 bridges
Dillon County, SC · 128 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 128 Good 56 Fair 64 Poor 8

All bridges (128)

Sort:

Cheatham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cheatham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 110,941 vehicle crossings a day

54.7% of Cheatham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cheatham 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 (128)

NFA A447

NFA A485

NFA A525

NFA 979 (SA 1109)

NFA 979 (SA 1109)

FAS 249

FAS 249

NFA A417 (SA 1101)

NFA 1948 (SA 1101)

NFA 958 (SA 1111)

FAS 249

FAP 12

FAP 12

FAP 12

FAP 12

FAS 12

FAS 12

FAS 112

FAS 249

FAP 49

NFA A372

NFA A506

MT. PLEASANT RD.

NFA A231

NFA A235

I40

I40

NFA 979 (SA 1109)

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