County profile · official public datasets

Claiborne County, TN

98 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.7% rated Good, 60.2% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

98
Public bridges: 35.7%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Claiborne County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

54th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 98
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Claiborne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Claiborne County ranks #54 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Claiborne County, Tennessee contains 98 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.7% are rated “Good,” 60.2% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

Public highway bridges in Claiborne County

Good condition

35.7%

35 of 98 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.2%

59 of 98 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

4 of 98 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 98 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.7% (35)

Fair

60.2% (59)

Poor

4.1% (4)

Claiborne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,814 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 454 crossings a day against 2,603 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 98 of 98 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

28.6% of Claiborne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

28 of the 98 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 35.7% 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 44.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 1332 (SA 1310) over LITTLE SYCAMORE CREEK, built 1985, carries 806 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,814 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1940s

3
1950s

7
1960s

7
1970s

14
1980s

31
1990s

14
2000s

9
2010s

8
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Claiborne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Claiborne County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Decatur County	104	35.6%	63.5%	1%	1982
DeKalb County	100	23%	70%	7%	1977
Rhea County	100	34%	59%	7%	1979
Claiborne County (this page)	98	35.7%	60.2%	4.1%	1985
Grainger County	88	27.3%	68.2%	4.5%	1970
Trousdale County	88	70.5%	27.3%	2.3%	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 Claiborne 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 Claiborne County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (98 bridges here).

Boone County, AR · 98 bridges
Van Buren County, AR · 98 bridges
Dougherty County, GA · 98 bridges
Butler County, KY · 98 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 98 Good 35 Fair 59 Poor 4

All bridges (98)

Sort:

Claiborne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Claiborne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,814 vehicle crossings a day

28.6% of Claiborne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Claiborne 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 (98)

NFA A499

FAP 33

NFA 2556 (SA 1318)

NFA 2556 (SA 1318)

FAP 63

NFA A701

FAS 63

NFA A424

NFA 1336 (SA 1302)

NFA A441

NFA 1332 (SA 1310)

NFA 1336 (SA 1302)

NFA 1315 (SA 1317)

NFA A242

FAS 63

NFA A253

FAS 63

NFA 1336 (SA 1302)

NFA A756

NFA 1336 (SA 1302)

NFA 2558

FAS 345

NFA 2507 (SA 1322)

NFA A706

FAS 345

NFA A706

NFA 2472

NFA 1340 (SA 1307)

NFA 2554

NFA 2560 (SA 1323)

NFA 2562 (SA 1325)

NFA 2704

NFA A255

NFA A038

NFA A042

NFA A048

NFA A245

NFA A254

NFA A281

NFA A304

NFA A305

NFA A372

NFA A373

NFA A444

NFA A482

FAS 63

FAP 33

FAP 33

FAP 33

FAP 63

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