County profile · official public datasets

Giles County, TN

321 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.1% rated Good, 41.7% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

321
Public bridges: 56.1%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Giles County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 321
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Giles County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Giles County ranks #19 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Giles County, Tennessee contains 321 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.1% are rated “Good,” 41.7% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

321

Public highway bridges in Giles County

Good condition

56.1%

180 of 321 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.7%

134 of 321 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

7 of 321 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 321 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.1% (180)

Fair

41.7% (134)

Poor

2.2% (7)

Giles County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,537 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 791 crossings a day against 3,440 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 321 of 321 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.7% of Giles County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

182 of the 321 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 56.1% 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 69.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 11 over PIGEON ROOST CREEK, built 1938, carries 3,828 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,537 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

29
1930s

26
1940s

19
1950s

48
1960s

54
1970s

11
1980s

51
1990s

49
2000s

24
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 9 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Giles County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Giles County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fayette County	336	23.8%	68.8%	7.4%	1984
Hickman County	331	38.7%	56.2%	5.1%	1979
Giles County (this page)	321	56.1%	41.7%	2.2%	1968
Greene County	306	30.4%	67%	2.6%	1974
Lincoln County	304	52.6%	44.4%	3%	1974
Bedford County	294	58.5%	38.8%	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 Giles 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 Giles County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (321 bridges here).

Christian County, IL · 321 bridges
Jackson County, IN · 321 bridges
Auglaize County, OH · 321 bridges
Columbiana County, OH · 321 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 321 Good 180 Fair 134 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (180)

Sort:

Giles County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Giles County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,537 vehicle crossings a day

56.7% of Giles County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 69.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Giles 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

Good-condition bridges (180)

FAS 166

FAP 15

FAP 15

NFA 1883 (SA 2810)

NFA A140

NFA 983 (SA 2825)

FAP 11

I65

FAP 11

FAS 166

FAP 15

NFA A445

I65

FAS 273

I65

NFA 966 (SA 2817)

NFA 1883 (SA 2810)

NFA 1889 (SA 2831)

NFA 1891 (SA 2818)

NFA 1891 (SA 2818)

NFA 1898 (SA 2824)

NFA 1902 (SA 2827)

NFA A769

NFA A001

NFA A003

NFA A003

NFA A008

NFA A018

NFA A030

NFA A045

NFA A046

NFA A048

NFA A049

NFA A058

NFA A068

NFA A069

NFA A073

NFA A092

NFA A101

NFA A116

NFA A128

NFA A135

NFA A138

NFA A140

NFA A140

NFA A148

NFA A150

NFA A164

NFA A167

NFA A194

Related