County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, TN

336 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.8% rated Good, 68.8% Fair, 7.4% Poor.

336
Public bridges: 23.8%
Good condition: 7.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fayette 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.

82nd
of 95 on Poor share: 7.4%
Poor-condition share: 336
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #82 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.4%). Fayette County, Tennessee contains 336 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.8% are rated “Good,” 68.8% “Fair,” and 7.4% “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

336

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

23.8%

80 of 336 rated 7-9

Fair condition

68.8%

231 of 336 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.4%

25 of 336 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#82 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 336 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.8% (80)

Fair

68.8% (231)

Poor

7.4% (25)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,722 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,349 crossings a day against 2,799 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 336 of 336 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.8% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

137 of the 336 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 23.8% 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 64.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 15 over BRANCH, built 1992, carries 21,609 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 33,722 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

18
1960s

95
1970s

13
1980s

27
1990s

71
2000s

39
2010s

45
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 95 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 7 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sullivan County	368	42.1%	55.2%	2.7%	1973
Weakley County	351	43.3%	55.6%	1.1%	1987
Fayette County (this page)	336	23.8%	68.8%	7.4%	1984
Hickman County	331	38.7%	56.2%	5.1%	1979
Giles County	321	56.1%	41.7%	2.2%	1968
Greene County	306	30.4%	67%	2.6%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (336 bridges here).

Jefferson County, AR · 336 bridges
Kane County, IL · 336 bridges
Tuscarawas County, OH · 336 bridges
Warren County, OH · 336 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 336 Good 80 Fair 231 Poor 25

Fair-condition bridges (231)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,722 vehicle crossings a day

40.8% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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 (231)

I40

NFA A043

NFA 2706

NFA A170

NFA A184

NFA A196

NFA A215

NFA 1454 (SA 2401)

NFA 1543 (SA 2402)

NFA 840 (SA 2411)

NFA 1557 (SA 2416)

NFA A002

NFA A006

NFA A006

NFA A006

NFA A026

NFA A043

NFA A046

NFA A097

NFA A102

NFA A106 (SA 2419)

NFA A119

NFA A119

NFA A128

NFA A136

NFA A144

NFA 2707

NFA 2705

NFA A196

NFA A203

NFA A235

NFA A257

FAS 195

FAP 1

FAP 15

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 76

NFA 1474 (SA 2414)

NFA 1474 (SA 2414)

NFA 1540 (SA 2405)

NFA 1555 (SA 2417)

NFA A043

NFA A043

NFA A043

NFA A097

NFA A127

NFA A129

NFA A133

NFA A196

Related