Total bridges
61
Public highway bridges in Hancock County
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.
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.
When Hancock County's bridges were built
61 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s 4
1960–1969
4 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
9 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
16 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s 6
2000–2009
6 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (61)
FAS 63
GoodOver: MULBERRY CREEK
2 MI.E.OF CLAIBORNE CO., Hancock, TN
Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 373
NFA 1343 (SA 3404)
GoodOver: FOUR MILE CREEK
IN NW CORNER OF COUNTY, Hancock, TN
Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 282
FAP 31
GoodOver: BRANCH
6.61 MI.N. JCT. FAS 2349, Hancock, TN
Built 1989 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,675
FAP 31
GoodOver: WILDER BRANCH
2.0 MI.N JCT. FAS 2349, Hancock, TN
Built 2000 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,675
FAP 33
GoodOver: BRIAR CREEK
7.69 MI.W. CLAIBORNE CO., Hancock, TN
Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 963
FAP 33
GoodOver: BLACKWATER CREEK
1.75 MI.W.OF KYLES FORD, Hancock, TN
Built 1938 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 684
FAP 33
GoodOver: FOX BRANCH
KYLES FORD HWY., Hancock, TN
Built 2014 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,146
FAS 66
GoodOver: CLINCH RIVER
6.48 MI.N.HAWKINS CO. LN., Hancock, TN
Built 1999 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,348
FAP 70
GoodOver: CLINCH RIVER
1.65 MI.N.HAWKINS CO. LN., Hancock, TN
Built 2015 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 453
FAS 70
GoodOver: BLACKWATER CREEK
2.36 MI.N. JCT. SR 33, Hancock, TN
Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 164
NFA 1332 (SA 3403)
PoorOver: MULBERRY CREEK
W OFF SR63-S OF CLINCH R, Hancock, TN
Built 1952 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 153
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.