Total bridges
190
Public highway bridges in Cocke County
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.
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.
When Cocke County's bridges were built
190 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 9
1920–1929
9 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
14 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
34 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
33 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
29 bridges
- 2010s 11
2010–2019
11 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (16)
NFA A277
PoorOver: TRAIL FORK BIG CREEK
OFF SR107 SE OF DEL RIO, Cocke, TN
Built 1973 Load: 2.3 t ADT: 10
NFA A909
PoorOver: NOLICHUKY RIVER
ON CO LN-S OF SR348&SR340, Cocke, TN
Built 1924 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 112
NFA A463
PoorOver: COSBY CREEK
W OFF SR32-4 M N OF COSBY, Cocke, TN
Built 1970 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 80
NFA A238
PoorOver: LONG CREEK
JUST E OF SR340 AT SR9, Cocke, TN
Built 1920 Load: 15.3 t ADT: 50
NFA A407
PoorOver: COSBY CREEK
E OF SR73-SR32 JCT-COSBY, Cocke, TN
Built 1984 Load: 20.7 t ADT: 1,370
FAS 160
PoorOver: NOLICHUCKY RIVER
ON THE HAMBLEN CO LINE, Cocke, TN
Built 1948 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 2,011
NFA A495
PoorOver: CLEAR CREEK
4.7 MI.W.OF GREENE CO.LN., Cocke, TN
Built 1918 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 2,010
NFA A447
PoorOver: COSBY CREEK
2 MI NW OF COSBY, Cocke, TN
Built 1983 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 180
I40
PoorOver: GOLF COURSE RD (A526)
7.16 M.FROM JEFFERSON CL, Cocke, TN
Built 1970 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 29,828
NFA 2515 (SA 1501)
PoorOver: INDIAN CAMP CREEK
1 M W. OF COSBY, Cocke, TN
Built 1999 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 494
NFA 2574
PoorOver: GULF FORK BIG CREEK
4 MI E OF I40-5M N OF LI., Cocke, TN
Built 1978 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 586
NFA A136
PoorOver: CLEAR CREEK
.9 M N OF SR35-E OF SR160, Cocke, TN
Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 170
I40
PoorOver: GREEN CORNER RD (1321)
1 MI S OF NC-TN ST LI, Cocke, TN
Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 26,877
FAP 9
PoorOver: PIGEON RIVER
IN NEWPORT, Cocke, TN
Built 1936 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 8,209
I40
PoorOver: NFA 1242
IN HARTFORD, Cocke, TN
Built 1970 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 29,058
COSBY CAMPGROUND A
PoorOver: ROCK CREEK
1.7 MILES SOUTH FROM TN R, Cocke, TN
Built 1970 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 1
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.