County profile · official public datasets

Hancock County, TN

61 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.5% rated Good, 50.8% Fair, 1.6% Poor.

61
Public bridges: 47.5%
Good condition: 1.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.6%
Poor-condition share: 61
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hancock County ranks #14 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). Hancock County, Tennessee contains 61 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.5% are rated “Good,” 50.8% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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 Hancock County

Good condition

47.5%

29 of 61 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.8%

31 of 61 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.6%

1 of 61 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 61 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.5% (29)

Fair

50.8% (31)

Poor

1.6% (1)

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 153 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 153 crossings a day against 498 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 61 of 61 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.6% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

15 of the 61 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 47.5% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 1332 (SA 3403) over MULBERRY CREEK, built 1952, carries 153 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 153 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

2
1940s

1
1950s

3
1960s

4
1970s

9
1980s

16
1990s

15
2000s

6
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Hancock County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hancock County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Moore County	69	53.6%	46.4%	0%	1974
Sequatchie County	67	47.8%	52.2%	0%	1980
Clay County	64	64.1%	29.7%	6.3%	1984
Union County	61	37.7%	57.4%	4.9%	1979
Hancock County (this page)	61	47.5%	50.8%	1.6%	1985
Fentress County	55	30.9%	52.7%	16.4%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (61 bridges here).

Amador County, CA · 61 bridges
Cheyenne County, CO · 61 bridges
Montezuma County, CO · 61 bridges
Atkinson County, GA · 61 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 61 Good 29 Fair 31 Poor 1

All bridges (61)

Sort:

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 153 vehicle crossings a day

24.6% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hancock 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 (61)

NFA A192

NFA A195

NFA A055

FAP 31

FAP 33

FAS 63

NFA 2546 (SA 3402)

NFA A169

NFA A184

FAS 63

NFA A087

FAS 63

NFA 1334

NFA 2610 (SA 3409)

NFA 2612 (SA 3410)

NFA 2620 (SA 3405)

NFA 2620 (SA 3405)

NFA A234

NFA A091

NFA A094

NFA A099

NFA 1334

FAS 63

FAS 63

FAP 31

FAP 31

FAP 33

FAP 33

FAP 33

FAP 33

FAP 33

NFA 1343 (SA 3404)

NFA 2610 (SA 3409)

NFA 2612 (SA 3410)

NFA A148

NFA 2546 (SA 3402)

NFA A065

NFA A082

NFA A097

NFA A099

NFA A104

NFA A134

NFA A135

NFA A135

NFA A145

NFA A095

NFA A240

NFA A245

NFA 1334

FAS 63

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