County profile · official public datasets

Henry County, TN

187 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39% rated Good, 56.7% Fair, 4.3% Poor.

187
Public bridges: 39%
Good condition: 4.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

57th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.3%
Poor-condition share: 187
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Henry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Henry County ranks #57 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.3%). Henry County, Tennessee contains 187 public highway bridges. Roughly 39% are rated “Good,” 56.7% “Fair,” and 4.3% “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

187

Public highway bridges in Henry County

Good condition

39%

73 of 187 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.7%

106 of 187 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.3%

8 of 187 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 187 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39% (73)

Fair

56.7% (106)

Poor

4.3% (8)

Henry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,618 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 827 crossings a day against 2,151 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 187 of 187 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.2% of Henry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

79 of the 187 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 39% 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 73.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 218 over BAILEY FORK CR., built 1988, carries 4,855 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,618 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

8
1940s

14
1950s

14
1960s

31
1970s

11
1980s

42
1990s

26
2000s

19
2010s

9
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Henry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Henry 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	190	21.1%	70%	8.9%	1971
Henry County (this page)	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 Henry 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 Henry County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (187 bridges here).

Lonoke County, AR · 187 bridges
Huntington County, IN · 187 bridges
Grundy County, MO · 187 bridges
Chesapeake city County, VA · 187 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 187 Good 73 Fair 106 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (73)

Sort:

Henry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Henry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,618 vehicle crossings a day

42.2% of Henry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 73.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Henry 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

Good-condition bridges (73)

FAS 69

FAP 54

NFA A480

FAS 69

FAP 54

NFA A211

NFA A032

FAS 77

NFA 1735 (SA 4004)

NFA 1715 (SA 4015)

NFA 1717 (SA 4017)

NFA 1736 (SA 4018)

FAU 3066

NFA A022

NFA A024

NFA A024

NFA A030

NFA A113

NFA A113

NFA A113

NFA A113

NFA A118

NFA A134

NFA A165

NFA A193

NFA A195

NFA A203

NFA A210

NFA A434

NFA A460

NFA A470

NFA A480

NFA A534

NFA A557

NFA A557

NFA A572

NFA A575 (SA 4004)

FAU 3064

NFA 904 (SA 4022)

NFA A921

NFA 900 (SA 4008)

NFA 900 (SA 4008)

FAS 140

FAS 140

FAS 140

NFA 896 (SA 4002)

FAS 140

NFA 1715 (SA 4015)

FAP 54

FAP 54

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