County profile · official public datasets

Dickson County, TN

243 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.8% rated Good, 35.8% Fair, 5.3% Poor.

243
Public bridges: 58.8%
Good condition: 5.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

71st
of 95 on Poor share: 5.3%
Poor-condition share: 243
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Dickson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dickson County ranks #71 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Dickson County, Tennessee contains 243 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.8% are rated “Good,” 35.8% “Fair,” and 5.3% “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

243

Public highway bridges in Dickson County

Good condition

58.8%

143 of 243 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35.8%

87 of 243 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.3%

13 of 243 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 243 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.8% (143)

Fair

35.8% (87)

Poor

5.3% (13)

Dickson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 98,296 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,561 crossings a day against 2,448 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 243 of 243 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.3% of Dickson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

115 of the 243 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 58.8% 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 35.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I40 over I40-RL / EAST PINEY RD., built 1963, carries 34,978 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 98,296 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

16
1940s

16
1950s

24
1960s

41
1970s

21
1980s

31
1990s

39
2000s

39
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Dickson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Dickson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Humphreys County	250	24.4%	68%	7.6%	1978
Dickson County (this page)	243	58.8%	35.8%	5.3%	1975
Haywood County	241	35.3%	60.2%	4.6%	1976
Carroll County	240	37.9%	60%	2.1%	1982
Marshall County	240	56.3%	43.8%	0%	1968
Dyer County	232	29.7%	62.1%	8.2%	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 Dickson 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 Dickson County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (243 bridges here).

Talladega County, AL · 243 bridges
Newton County, MS · 243 bridges
Pettis County, MO · 243 bridges
Gloucester County, NJ · 243 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 243 Good 143 Fair 87 Poor 13

All bridges (243)

Sort:

Dickson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dickson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 98,296 vehicle crossings a day

47.3% of Dickson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dickson 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 (243)

NFA A224

NFA A565

NFA A376

NFA A415

NFA A417

NFA 965 (SA 2202)

NFA 957 (SA 2219)

FAP 48

I40

I40

NFA A434

NFA A001

FAS 46

FAS 46

NFA 1843 (SA 2217)

NFA A224

NFA A067

NFA A319

FAS 250

FAP 96

NFA 1858 (SA 2203)

FAS 46

NFA A471

NFA A338

FAS 46

NFA 839 (SA 2213)

NFA 954

NFA 1847 (SA 2222)

NFA 1847 (SA 2222)

NFA 1851

NFA 1860 (SA 2215)

NFA 1868 (SA 2205)

NFA 1868 (SA 2205)

NFA A887

NFA A448

NFA A448

NFA A444

NFA A043

NFA A045

NFA A067

NFA A059

NFA A001

NFA A017

NFA A017

NFA A258

NFA A093

NFA A045 (SA 2226)

NFA A051

NFA A049

NFA A111

Related