County profile · official public datasets

Hamblen County, TN

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.6% rated Good, 79.8% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 17.6%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Hamblen County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hamblen County ranks #25 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Hamblen County, Tennessee contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.6% are rated “Good,” 79.8% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Hamblen County

Good condition

17.6%

21 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

79.8%

95 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

3 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.6% (21)

Fair

79.8% (95)

Poor

2.5% (3)

Hamblen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 48,727 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16,242 crossings a day against 7,786 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.3% of Hamblen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

61 of the 119 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 17.6% 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 93.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I81 over FLAT CREEK, built 1970, carries 45,697 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 48,727 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

4
1950s

5
1960s

20
1970s

39
1980s

16
1990s

18
2000s

3
2010s

8
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Hamblen County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hamblen County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chester County	127	38.6%	57.5%	3.9%	1983
Jefferson County	122	13.9%	74.6%	11.5%	1966
Morgan County	120	48.3%	45%	6.7%	1981
Hamblen County (this page)	119	17.6%	79.8%	2.5%	1976
Houston County	118	45.8%	50.8%	3.4%	1978
Loudon County	117	53%	45.3%	1.7%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 119 Good 21 Fair 95 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (95)

Sort:

Hamblen County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hamblen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 48,727 vehicle crossings a day

51.3% of Hamblen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 93.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hamblen 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 (95)

NFA A276

NFA A287

NFA A297

NFA A416

NFA A443

NFA A446

NFA A449

NFA A451

NFA A507

FAU 4299

NFA A743

NFA A945

NFA A962

FAP 34

NFA 1311

I81

I81

I81

I81

FAP 160 LL

I81

I81

I81

I81

I81 730276E

I81 730276E

I81

FAU 3844

NFA 1320 (SA 3212)

FAU 1320 (SA 3212)

NFA 2469 (SA 3218)

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAP 32

FAU 3836

FAP 34

FAS 113

FAP 160

FAP 160 RL

NFA 1307 (SA 3206)

FAP 160

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