County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, TN

131 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.7% rated Good, 57.3% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

131
Public bridges: 39.7%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 131
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #37 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Jackson County, Tennessee contains 131 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.7% are rated “Good,” 57.3% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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

131

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

39.7%

52 of 131 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.3%

75 of 131 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

4 of 131 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 131 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.7% (52)

Fair

57.3% (75)

Poor

3.1% (4)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,961 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 490 crossings a day against 774 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 131 of 131 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.6% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

48 of the 131 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 39.7% 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 70.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 262 over BULLARD CREEK, built 1949, carries 1,388 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 1,961 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

5
1950s

15
1960s

12
1970s

22
1980s

45
1990s

14
2000s

3
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.4% 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 Jackson County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Campbell County	137	24.8%	71.5%	3.6%	1973
Cumberland County	137	32.8%	48.9%	18.2%	1971
Lewis County	136	19.1%	77.9%	2.9%	1979
Jackson County (this page)	131	39.7%	57.3%	3.1%	1978
Cheatham County	128	43.8%	50%	6.3%	1975
Chester County	127	38.6%	57.5%	3.9%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (131 bridges here).

Columbia County, AR · 131 bridges
Laurel County, KY · 131 bridges
Franklin County, LA · 131 bridges
Wright County, MO · 131 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 131 Good 52 Fair 75 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (75)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,961 vehicle crossings a day

36.6% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 70.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (75)

NFA A265

NFA A265

NFA A353

NFA A386

NFA A391

FAU 1171 (SA 4410)

NFA 1173 (SA 4404)

FAS 135

FAP 53

FAP 53

FAP 53

FAP 53

FAP 56

FAP 56

FAP 56

FAP 56

FAP 56

FAP 56

FAS 56

FAS 85

FAP 151

FAP 151

FAP 151

NFA A207

NFA A118

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