County profile · official public datasets

Dyer County, TN

232 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.7% rated Good, 62.1% Fair, 8.2% Poor.

232
Public bridges: 29.7%
Good condition: 8.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

85th
of 95 on Poor share: 8.2%
Poor-condition share: 232
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Dyer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dyer County ranks #85 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.2%). Dyer County, Tennessee contains 232 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.7% are rated “Good,” 62.1% “Fair,” and 8.2% “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

232

Public highway bridges in Dyer County

Good condition

29.7%

69 of 232 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.1%

144 of 232 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.2%

19 of 232 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#85 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 232 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.7% (69)

Fair

62.1% (144)

Poor

8.2% (19)

Dyer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,358 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,493 crossings a day against 3,041 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 232 of 232 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25% of Dyer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

58 of the 232 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 29.7% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 20 over N FORK FORKED DEER RIVER, built 1994, carries 14,181 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 47,358 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

13
1930s

8
1940s

2
1950s

13
1960s

17
1970s

47
1980s

67
1990s

37
2000s

14
2010s

10
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 67 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Dyer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dyer County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dickson County	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 (this page)	232	29.7%	62.1%	8.2%	1979
Hardeman County	223	30%	67.3%	2.7%	1980

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 Dyer 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 Dyer County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (232 bridges here).

Douglas County, IL · 232 bridges
Monroe County, IN · 232 bridges
Pearl River County, MS · 232 bridges
Gaston County, NC · 232 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 232 Good 69 Fair 144 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (144)

Sort:

Dyer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dyer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 47,358 vehicle crossings a day

25% of Dyer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dyer 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 (144)

FAU 3

FAU A717

FAP 3

FAP 3

NFA A727

FAU 826

FAU 77

NFA A268

FAP 3

FAP 3

FAS 104

FAS 104

FAS 104

FAS 104

FAS 104

FAS 104

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAS 20

FAS 20

FAU 20

FAU 20

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAP 78

FAP 78

FAP 78

FAS 103

FAS 103

FAU 104

FAP 104

FAP 104

FAP 104

FAS 105

FAU 211

FAS 210

NFA A829

FAS 105

NFA A290

FAU 210

FAU 104

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