County profile · official public datasets

Clay County, TN

64 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.1% rated Good, 29.7% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

64
Public bridges: 64.1%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clay 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.

76th
of 95 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 64
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clay County ranks #76 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Clay County, Tennessee contains 64 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.1% are rated “Good,” 29.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Clay County

Good condition

64.1%

41 of 64 rated 7-9

Fair condition

29.7%

19 of 64 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

4 of 64 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#76 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 64 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64.1% (41)

Fair

29.7% (19)

Poor

6.3% (4)

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,511 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 628 crossings a day against 681 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 64 of 64 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

18.8% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

12 of the 64 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 64.1% 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 84.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 52 over TRACE CREEK, built 1970, carries 2,112 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 2,511 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1940s

3
1950s

3
1960s

3
1970s

10
1980s

24
1990s

10
2000s

2
2010s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 7 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Clay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clay County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Moore County	69	53.6%	46.4%	0%	1974
White County	69	34.8%	59.4%	5.8%	1979
Sequatchie County	67	47.8%	52.2%	0%	1980
Clay County (this page)	64	64.1%	29.7%	6.3%	1984
Hancock County	61	47.5%	50.8%	1.6%	1985
Union County	61	37.7%	57.4%	4.9%	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 Clay 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 Clay County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (64 bridges here).

Southeast Fairbanks County, AK · 64 bridges
Delta County, CO · 64 bridges
Sedgwick County, CO · 64 bridges
Hancock County, GA · 64 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 64 Good 41 Fair 19 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (41)

Sort:

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,511 vehicle crossings a day

18.8% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 84.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clay 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

Good-condition bridges (41)

NFA A501

NFA 2255 (SA 1407)

NFA A210

NFA A219

NFA A593

NFA 2251 (SA 1409)

NFA A058

NFA A110

NFA A058

NFA 2251 (SA 1409)

NFA 2251 (SA 1409)

NFA 2251 (SA 1409)

NFA A593

NFA A010

NFA A017

NFA A046

NFA A052

NFA A052

NFA A054

NFA A055

NFA A057

NFA A058

NFA A060

NFA A107

NFA A145

NFA A154

NFA A210

NFA A211

NFA A212

NFA A213

NFA A224

NFA A350 (SA 1402)

NFA A350 (SA 1402)

FAP 52

NFA A206

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 53

FAP 53

Related