County profile · official public datasets

Hawkins County, TN

190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.1% rated Good, 70% Fair, 8.9% Poor.

190
Public bridges: 21.1%
Good condition: 8.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hawkins 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.

88th
of 95 on Poor share: 8.9%
Poor-condition share: 190
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Hawkins County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hawkins County ranks #88 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.9%). Hawkins County, Tennessee contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.1% are rated “Good,” 70% “Fair,” and 8.9% “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

190

Public highway bridges in Hawkins County

Good condition

21.1%

40 of 190 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70%

133 of 190 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.9%

17 of 190 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#88 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.1% (40)

Fair

70% (133)

Poor

8.9% (17)

Hawkins County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85,529 vehicle crossings a day

That is 17.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,031 crossings a day against 1,769 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 190 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.8% of Hawkins County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 190 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 21.1% 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 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 1 over NORTH FORK HOLSTON RIVER, built 1962, carries 27,414 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 85,529 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

10
1930s

8
1940s

13
1950s

21
1960s

23
1970s

28
1980s

53
1990s

20
2000s

11
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Hawkins County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hawkins County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carter County	195	44.6%	43.1%	12.3%	1976
Hardin County	192	36.5%	59.9%	3.6%	1982
Cocke County	190	20%	71.6%	8.4%	1977
Hawkins County (this page)	190	21.1%	70%	8.9%	1971
Henry County	187	39%	56.7%	4.3%	1978
Montgomery County	186	36.6%	57.5%	5.9%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (190 bridges here).

Clinton County, IL · 190 bridges
Wapello County, IA · 190 bridges
Webster County, IA · 190 bridges
Bienville County, LA · 190 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 190 Good 40 Fair 133 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (133)

Sort:

Hawkins County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hawkins County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85,529 vehicle crossings a day

46.8% of Hawkins County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hawkins 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 (133)

NFA A139

NFA A139

NFA A139

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1 RT LN

FAP 1 LF LN

FAP 1 RT LN

FAP 1 LT LN

FAP 1

FAP 34

FAP 66

FAS 66

FAS 66

FAS 66

FAS 66

FAS 66

FAS 66

FAP 70

FAP 70

FAP 70

FAP 70

FAP 70

FAP 70

FAP 70

ROAD 1926W

NFA A139

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