Total bridges
157
Public highway bridges in Franklin County
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.
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.
When Franklin County's bridges were built
157 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 9
1950–1959
9 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
23 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
21 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
31 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
30 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s 9
2010–2019
9 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (67)
FAP 16
GoodOver: BRANCH
0.1 MI S OF SR 15 JCT, Franklin, TN
Built 2015 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,232
FAP 16
GoodOver: BRANCH
0.1 MI S OF SR 15 JCT, Franklin, TN
Built 2017 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,176
FAP 433 EBL
GoodOver: BOILING FORK CREEK
0.3 MI W. OF US41A, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6,654
FAP 433 WBL
GoodOver: BOILING FORK CREEK
0.3 MI W OF US41A, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6,654
FAP 433
GoodOver: CSX RAILROAD
2 MI N OF SR 15 JCT, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,938
FAP 433
GoodOver: CSX RAILROAD
2 MI N OF SR 15 JCT, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,938
FAP 50
GoodOver: SR-50 / SR-433
IN DECHERD, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,443
FAP 50
GoodOver: SR050 / 02729
3 MI NE OF DECHERD, Franklin, TN
Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6,321
FAP 50
GoodOver: GUM CREEK
4.5 MI W OG GRUNDY CO LN, Franklin, TN
Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,467
FAP 433
GoodOver: WAGNER CREEK
0.1 MI N OF KELLY LN, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,938
FAP 122
GoodOver: ROBINSON CREEK
.83 MI.FROM MOORE CO.LINE, Franklin, TN
Built 1971 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,167
FAS 127
GoodOver: ELK RIVER
2 MI.NE.OF CAPITOL HILL, Franklin, TN
Built 2019 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,405
FAP 433
GoodOver: BRANCH
NEAR SR 16 JCT, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6,624
FAP 433
GoodOver: BRANCH
AT LIBERTY RD INTSECT., Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6,624
NFA A123
GoodOver: ROCK CREEK
EAST OF SR130, Franklin, TN
Built 1994 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 810
FAP 15
GoodOver: ROBINSON CREEK
1.5 MILE WEST OF HUNTLAND, Franklin, TN
Built 2006 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 5,729
FAP 15
GoodOver: ROBINSON CREEK
1.5 MILE WEST OF HUNTLAND, Franklin, TN
Built 2008 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 5,729
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.