County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, TN

157 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.7% rated Good, 53.5% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

157
Public bridges: 42.7%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

49th
of 95 on Poor share: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 157
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #49 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Franklin County, Tennessee contains 157 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.7% are rated “Good,” 53.5% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

157

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

42.7%

67 of 157 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.5%

84 of 157 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

6 of 157 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 157 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.7% (67)

Fair

53.5% (84)

Poor

3.8% (6)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,323 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,721 crossings a day against 2,718 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 157 of 157 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.2% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

60 of the 157 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 42.7% 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 42.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 16 over WAGNER CREEK, built 1941, carries 14,723 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 34,323 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

9
1940s

6
1950s

9
1960s

23
1970s

21
1980s

31
1990s

30
2000s

19
2010s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 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 Franklin County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Unicoi County	161	46%	49.1%	5%	1984
Warren County	160	48.1%	48.1%	3.8%	1976
Cannon County	159	45.9%	43.4%	10.7%	1974
Roane County	159	48.4%	49.7%	1.9%	1972
Franklin County (this page)	157	42.7%	53.5%	3.8%	1980
Perry County	153	23.5%	75.2%	1.3%	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 Franklin 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 Franklin County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (157 bridges here).

Lowndes County, AL · 157 bridges
Jefferson County, IA · 157 bridges
Franklin County, MS · 157 bridges
Washington County, MO · 157 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 157 Good 67 Fair 84 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (84)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,323 vehicle crossings a day

38.2% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (84)

NFA A264

NFA B200

NFA A727

VON KARMAN ROAD

ETF BRIDGE

WATTENDORF MEM HWY

NFA 1103 (SA 2622)

NFA A297

NFA A406

FAS 279

NFA A585

NFA 2104 (SA 2603)

FAS 50

FAS 121

NFA 1985 (SA 2602)

NFA 2104 (SA 2603)

NFA 2127 (SA 2609)

NFA A897

NFA A342

NFA A460

NFA A589

NFA A622

NFA A641

NFA A708

NFA A729

NFA 1101 (SA 2610)

NFA 1092 (SA 2619)

NFA 5487

FAP 16

FAP 16

FAP 15

FAP 15

NFA A340

NFA A590

NFA A410

WATTENDORF MEM HWY

FAS 56

FAP 15

NFA 1985 (SA 2602)

LYNCHBURG HWY.

FAP 433 EBL

NFA 2106 (SA 2608)

NFA 2110 (SA 2628)

NFA B001 (SA 2618)

NFA A897

NFA A103

NFA A125

NFA 1088

NFA A226

NFA A356

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