Total bridges
98
Public highway bridges in Claiborne County
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.
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.
When Claiborne County's bridges were built
98 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 7
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s 7
1960–1969
7 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
14 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
31 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
14 bridges
- 2000s 9
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s 8
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (4)
NFA A154
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
.2 MI N OF SR 63, Claiborne, TN
Built 1990 Load: 2.9 t ADT: 30
FAP 33
PoorOver: SOUTH FORK SYCAMORE CREE
.8 M OF HOWARD QUARTER, Claiborne, TN
Built 1967 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 760
NFA A706
PoorOver: ROCK CREEK
.9 M SE OF CLAIRFIELD, Claiborne, TN
Built 2006 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 218
NFA 1332 (SA 1310)
PoorOver: LITTLE SYCAMORE CREEK
2 M NW OF US25E-SR33 JCT., Claiborne, TN
Built 1985 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 806
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.