County profile · official public datasets

Grainger County, TN

88 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.3% rated Good, 68.2% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

88
Public bridges: 27.3%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Grainger County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

61st
of 95 on Poor share: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 88
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Grainger County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Grainger County ranks #61 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Grainger County, Tennessee contains 88 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.3% are rated “Good,” 68.2% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Grainger County

Good condition

27.3%

24 of 88 rated 7-9

Fair condition

68.2%

60 of 88 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

4 of 88 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 88 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

27.3% (24)

Fair

68.2% (60)

Poor

4.5% (4)

Grainger County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,539 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 635 crossings a day against 3,193 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 88 of 88 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.9% of Grainger County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 88 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 27.3% 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 47.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 131 over WILLIAMS CREEK, built 1973, carries 1,213 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,539 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

6
1940s

11
1950s

12
1960s

3
1970s

14
1980s

13
1990s

10
2000s

4
2010s

7
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 7 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Grainger County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Grainger County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Claiborne County	98	35.7%	60.2%	4.1%	1985
Trousdale County	88	70.5%	27.3%	2.3%	1979
Grainger County (this page)	88	27.3%	68.2%	4.5%	1970
Grundy County	85	49.4%	49.4%	1.2%	1969
Bledsoe County	83	50.6%	48.2%	1.2%	1970
Overton County	78	55.1%	41%	3.8%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (88 bridges here).

Chicot County, AR · 88 bridges
Prairie County, AR · 88 bridges
Grand County, CO · 88 bridges
Spalding County, GA · 88 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 88 Good 24 Fair 60 Poor 4

All bridges (88)

Sort:

Grainger County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Grainger County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,539 vehicle crossings a day

48.9% of Grainger County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Grainger 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

All bridges (88)

NFA A379

NFA A352

NFA 1274 (SA 2907)

FAS 375

FAP 1

NFA 2479 (SA 2908)

FAP 1

NFA A406

FAP 1

FAS 131

FAP 1

FAP 1

NFA 2473 (SA 2910)

NFA 2548 (SA 2917)

NFA A096

NFA A412

NFA 1213 (SA 2901)

NFA 1213 (SA 2901)

NFA 1213 (SA 2901)

NFA 1328 (SA 2903)

FAP 32

NFA A097

FAP 1

FAS 375

FAP 1

FAP 32

NFA A050

NFA A404

FAP 1

NFA 2475

NFA 2479 (SA 2908)

NFA 2485

NFA 2548 (SA 2917)

NFA A025

NFA A025

NFA A026

NFA A026

NFA A040 (SA 2918)

NFA A040 (SA 2918)

NFA A051

NFA A097

NFA A099

NFA A407

NFA A410

NFA A434

NFA A663

NFA 2475

FAS 375

NFA 1328 (SA 2903)

NFA 1274 (SA 2907)

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