County profile · official public datasets

Fentress County, TN

55 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.9% rated Good, 52.7% Fair, 16.4% Poor.

55
Public bridges: 30.9%
Good condition: 16.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

94th
of 95 on Poor share: 16.4%
Poor-condition share: 55
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Fentress County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fentress County ranks #94 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.4%). Fentress County, Tennessee contains 55 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.9% are rated “Good,” 52.7% “Fair,” and 16.4% “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

Public highway bridges in Fentress County

Good condition

30.9%

17 of 55 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.7%

29 of 55 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.4%

9 of 55 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#94 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 55 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.9% (17)

Fair

52.7% (29)

Poor

16.4% (9)

Fentress County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,410 vehicle crossings a day

That is 19.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,046 crossings a day against 457 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 55 of 55 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.1% of Fentress County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

16 of the 55 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 30.9% 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 45.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 296 over BRANCH, built 1929, carries 4,289 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,410 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

2
1960s

3
1970s

1
1980s

18
1990s

8
2000s

6
2010s

4
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Fentress County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fentress County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Moore County	69	53.6%	46.4%	0%	1974
Sequatchie County	67	47.8%	52.2%	0%	1980
Clay County	64	64.1%	29.7%	6.3%	1984
Hancock County	61	47.5%	50.8%	1.6%	1985
Union County	61	37.7%	57.4%	4.9%	1979
Fentress County (this page)	55	30.9%	52.7%	16.4%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (55 bridges here).

Park County, CO · 55 bridges
Dixie County, FL · 55 bridges
Winnebago County, IA · 55 bridges
Logan County, KS · 55 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 55 Good 17 Fair 29 Poor 9

All bridges (55)

Sort:

Fentress County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fentress County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,410 vehicle crossings a day

29.1% of Fentress County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fentress 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 (55)

NFA A199

NFA 1211 (SA 2504)

NFA 1211 (SA 2504)

FAS 296

FAP 52

FAP 52

NFA A046

FAP 52

NFA 2316 (SA 2513)

NFA 1182 (SA 2511)

FAS 296

NFA A075

FAP 52

NFA 2314 (SA 2505)

FAS 154

NFA 2302 (SA 2501)

NFA 2312 (SA 2502)

NFA A048

NFA A063

NFA A071

NFA A073

NFA A075

NFA A234

NFA A302

NFA 1180 (SA 2503)

FAS 325

FAP 28

FAS 154

NFA A144

NFA 1180 (SA 2503)

NFA A063

NFA 2316 (SA 2513)

NFA A028

NFA A060

NFA A071

NFA A071

NFA A073

NFA A175

NFA A203

NFA A250

NFA A302

NFA 1211 (SA 2504)

NFA 1211 (SA 2504)

FAP 52

FAS 85

FAP 52

NFA A198

FAS 325

FAP 28

FAS 85

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