County profile · official public datasets

Houston County, TN

118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.8% rated Good, 50.8% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

118
Public bridges: 45.8%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 118
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.

Houston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Houston County ranks #42 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Houston County, Tennessee contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.8% are rated “Good,” 50.8% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

118

Public highway bridges in Houston County

Good condition

45.8%

54 of 118 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.8%

60 of 118 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

4 of 118 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.8% (54)

Fair

50.8% (60)

Poor

3.4% (4)

Houston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,503 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 626 crossings a day against 672 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.5% of Houston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 118 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 45.8% 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 64.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 13 over MUSTER GROUND CREEK, built 1928, carries 1,617 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,503 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

4
1960s

20
1970s

22
1980s

28
1990s

19
2000s

11
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% 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 Houston County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Houston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Houston County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County	122	13.9%	74.6%	11.5%	1966
Morgan County	120	48.3%	45%	6.7%	1981
Hamblen County	119	17.6%	79.8%	2.5%	1976
Houston County (this page)	118	45.8%	50.8%	3.4%	1978
Loudon County	117	53%	45.3%	1.7%	1971
Scott County	111	24.3%	71.2%	4.5%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (118 bridges here).

Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
Montrose County, CO · 118 bridges
Rabun County, GA · 118 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 118 Good 54 Fair 60 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (60)

Sort:

Houston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Houston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,503 vehicle crossings a day

41.5% of Houston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Houston 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 (60)

FAS 46

NFA 1791 (SA 4204)

NFA 1791 (SA 4204)

NFA 1820 (SA 4206)

NFA A024

NFA A143

NFA A158 (SA 4210)

NFA 910 (SA 4201)

FAS 147

NFA 1783 (SA 4204)

NFA 910 (SA 4201)

NFA 910 (SA 4201)

NFA 1791 (SA 4204)

NFA 1791 (SA 4204)

FAP 13

NFA A455

NFA A065

NFA A074

FAS 231

FAP 13

FAP 149

FAP 49

FAS 46

NFA A031

NFA A031

NFA A038

NFA A048

NFA A056

NFA A149

NFA A164

NFA A207

NFA 910 (SA 4201)

NFA 1781 (SA 4203)

NFA 1789 (SA 4207)

FAP 49

FAP 49

FAP 49

FAS 147

FAP 149

FAP 149

NFA 1785 (SA 4214)

NFA 1791 (SA 4204)

NFA A476

NFA A123

NFA A134

NFA A150

NFA 1781 (SA 4203)

NFA 1783 (SA 4204)

NFA A211

NFA A018

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