County profile · official public datasets

Gibson County, TN

386 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.9% rated Good, 62.4% Fair, 4.7% Poor.

386
Public bridges: 32.9%
Good condition: 4.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gibson 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.

64th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.7%
Poor-condition share: 386
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Gibson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gibson County ranks #64 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Gibson County, Tennessee contains 386 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.9% are rated “Good,” 62.4% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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

386

Public highway bridges in Gibson County

Good condition

32.9%

127 of 386 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.4%

241 of 386 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.7%

18 of 386 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 386 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32.9% (127)

Fair

62.4% (241)

Poor

4.7% (18)

Gibson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,102 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 506 crossings a day against 2,053 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 386 of 386 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.1% of Gibson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

93 of the 386 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 32.9% 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 33.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 2483 over ROGERS BRANCH, built 1929, carries 3,076 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,102 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

16
1930s

15
1940s

2
1950s

7
1960s

26
1970s

37
1980s

79
1990s

85
2000s

66
2010s

41
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 85 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 10 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Gibson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gibson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	418	31.8%	64.1%	4.1%	1983
Wilson County	402	60.7%	31.1%	8.2%	1972
Sumner County	398	69.1%	26.4%	4.5%	1976
Gibson County (this page)	386	32.9%	62.4%	4.7%	1987
Obion County	381	43.8%	53.3%	2.9%	1983
Sullivan County	368	42.1%	55.2%	2.7%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (386 bridges here).

Calhoun County, AL · 386 bridges
Stanislaus County, CA · 386 bridges
Alfalfa County, OK · 387 bridges
Delaware County, PA · 387 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 386 Good 127 Fair 241 Poor 18

Fair-condition bridges (241)

Sort:

Gibson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gibson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,102 vehicle crossings a day

24.1% of Gibson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gibson 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 (241)

NFA A364

NFA A569

NFA A651

NFA A161

NFA A354

NFA A081

NFA A238

NFA A502

NFA B112

NFA A352

NFA 1594 (SA 2717)

NFA A029

NFA A240

NFA 1604

NFA A956

NFA A702

NFA 1596 (SA 2721)

NFA A266

NFA A314

NFA 1521 (SA 2717)

NFA B100

NFA A061

NFA A982

FAP 76

NFA A199

FAP 76

NFA A062

NFA 853 (SA 2713)

NFA 1444 (SA 2708)

FAP 76 299188H

FAS 152

NFA A982

FAP 366

FAS 54

NFA A044

NFA 1582 (SA 2704)

NFA A361 (SA 2732)

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAS 54

FAS 54

FAS 185

FAP 104

NFA 1582 (SA 2704)

NFA A245

NFA A313

NFA A358

NFA A361 (SA 2732)

NFA A994

NFA 835 (SA 2718)

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