County profile · official public datasets

Cocke County, TN

190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20% rated Good, 71.6% Fair, 8.4% Poor.

190
Public bridges: 20%
Good condition: 8.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

87th
of 95 on Poor share: 8.4%
Poor-condition share: 190
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Cocke County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cocke County ranks #87 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.4%). Cocke County, Tennessee contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 20% are rated “Good,” 71.6% “Fair,” and 8.4% “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

190

Public highway bridges in Cocke County

Good condition

20%

38 of 190 rated 7-9

Fair condition

71.6%

136 of 190 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.4%

16 of 190 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#87 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

20% (38)

Fair

71.6% (136)

Poor

8.4% (16)

Cocke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 101,046 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,315 crossings a day against 744 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 190 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.9% of Cocke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 190 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 20% 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 29.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I40 over GOLF COURSE RD (A526), built 1970, carries 29,828 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 101,046 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

9
1930s

14
1940s

9
1950s

8
1960s

21
1970s

34
1980s

33
1990s

15
2000s

29
2010s

11
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Cocke County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 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 Cocke County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carter County	195	44.6%	43.1%	12.3%	1976
Hardin County	192	36.5%	59.9%	3.6%	1982
Hawkins County	190	21.1%	70%	8.9%	1971
Cocke County (this page)	190	20%	71.6%	8.4%	1977
Henry County	187	39%	56.7%	4.3%	1978
Montgomery County	186	36.6%	57.5%	5.9%	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 Cocke 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 Cocke County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (190 bridges here).

Clinton County, IL · 190 bridges
Wapello County, IA · 190 bridges
Webster County, IA · 190 bridges
Bienville County, LA · 190 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Contra Costa County, CA · avg 1977 · 618 bridges

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

All 190 Good 38 Fair 136 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (136)

Sort:

Cocke County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cocke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 101,046 vehicle crossings a day

47.9% of Cocke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cocke 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

Fair-condition bridges (136)

I40

I40

I40

I40

NFA E400

I40

I40

FAS 73

FAS 73

FAS 73

FAS 339

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

NFA 1242 (SA 1505)

FAS 340

NFA 1327 (SA 1515)

NFA 1325 (SA 1513)

FAP 9

FAP 9

FAP 32

NFA A900

FAP 32

FAP 35

NFA A494

FAP 35

FAP 35

FAP 35

FAS 107

FAS 160

I40

I40

NFA A448

FAS 107

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