Total bridges
55
Public highway bridges in Fentress County
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.
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.
When Fentress County's bridges were built
55 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 6
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 3
1960–1969
3 bridges
- 1970s 1
1970–1979
1 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s 6
2000–2009
6 bridges
- 2010s 4
2010–2019
4 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (17)
NFA 1180 (SA 2503)
GoodOver: LONG BRANCH
1.5 MI EAST OF US 127, Fentress, TN
Built 1950 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 1,460
NFA A063
GoodOver: WOLF RIVER
.2 MI EAST OF US127, Fentress, TN
Built 1990 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 290
NFA 2316 (SA 2513)
GoodOver: LITTLE CRAB CREEK
3.3 MI FROM SR52, Fentress, TN
Built 2021 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 229
NFA A028
GoodOver: POPLAR COVE CREEK
.5 MI NORTH OF SR 52, Fentress, TN
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 60
NFA A060
GoodOver: REED CREEK
4MI SOUTH OF US127, Fentress, TN
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50
NFA A071
GoodOver: WOLF RIVER
1 MI EAST OF US 127, Fentress, TN
Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 290
NFA A071
GoodOver: OVERFLOW
7.6 MI.NE.OF SR028, Fentress, TN
Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 290
NFA A073
GoodOver: ROTTEN FORK WOLF RIVER
.2MI FROM PICKETT CO LINE, Fentress, TN
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 60
NFA A175
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
.5 MI EAST OF JAMESTOWN, Fentress, TN
Built 1989 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 580
NFA A203
GoodOver: BIG INDIAN CREEK
2.6 MI FROM SR52, Fentress, TN
Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150
NFA A250
GoodOver: CLEAR FORK CREEK
2MI WEST OF MORGAN CO IN, Fentress, TN
Built 2005 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 240
NFA A302
GoodOver: BIG LAUREL CREEK
.5MI SOUTH OF SR85, Fentress, TN
Built 2020 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50
NFA 1211 (SA 2504)
GoodOver: MILL CREEK
5MI NORTH OF SR 62, Fentress, TN
Built 2008 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 739
NFA 1211 (SA 2504)
GoodOver: BRIDGE CREEK
0.9 MI NORTH OF SR62, Fentress, TN
Built 2023 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 813
FAP 52
GoodOver: BRANHAM HOLLOW BRANCH
4.28 MI.W.OF JAMESTOWN, Fentress, TN
Built 2013 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,415
FAS 85
GoodOver: LITTLE LAUREL CREEK
1 MI.E.OF OVERTON CO., Fentress, TN
Built 1988 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 380
FAP 52
GoodOver: BIG INDIAN CREEK
1.4 MI.E.OF PICKETT CO., Fentress, TN
Built 2009 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 670
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.