County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, TN

122 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 13.9% rated Good, 74.6% Fair, 11.5% Poor.

122
Public bridges: 13.9%
Good condition: 11.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jefferson 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.

92nd
of 95 on Poor share: 11.5%
Poor-condition share: 122
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #92 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.5%). Jefferson County, Tennessee contains 122 public highway bridges. Roughly 13.9% are rated “Good,” 74.6% “Fair,” and 11.5% “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

122

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

13.9%

17 of 122 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.6%

91 of 122 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.5%

14 of 122 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#92 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 122 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

13.9% (17)

Fair

74.6% (91)

Poor

11.5% (14)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,006 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,858 crossings a day against 20,085 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 122 of 122 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.5% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 122 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 13.9% 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 46.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 34 731386T over SR 34 LF LN / SOU RR, built 1953, carries 18,750 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 40,006 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

1
1930s

12
1940s

16
1950s

8
1960s

37
1970s

10
1980s

16
1990s

9
2000s

9
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 11 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chester County	127	38.6%	57.5%	3.9%	1983
Jefferson County (this page)	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	118	45.8%	50.8%	3.4%	1978
Loudon County	117	53%	45.3%	1.7%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (122 bridges here).

Conway County, AR · 122 bridges
Burleson County, TX · 122 bridges
Maverick County, TX · 122 bridges
Bland County, VA · 122 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 122 Good 17 Fair 91 Poor 14

Fair-condition bridges (91)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,006 vehicle crossings a day

70.5% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 46.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (91)

NFA 2530 731389N

NFA 2514 (SA 4503)

NFA 2635

NFA A039

NFA A072

NFA A072

NFA A080

NFA A118

NFA A263

FAU 5496

FAU 5496

NFA A581

NFA A657

NFA A660

NFA A873

NFA A878

I40

I40

NFA A735

NFA 2498

I40

I40

I81

I81

I81

I81

I81

I81

I81

FAS 341

FAP 32 730388D

FAP 34

FAP 34

FAP 34

FAS 66

FAP 92

I81

I40

NFA A872

NFA 1296

NFA 2457 (SA 4528)

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