County profile · official public datasets

Lauderdale County, TN

258 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36% rated Good, 57.4% Fair, 6.6% Poor.

258
Public bridges: 36%
Good condition: 6.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lauderdale County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

78th
of 95 on Poor share: 6.6%
Poor-condition share: 258
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Lauderdale County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lauderdale County ranks #78 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.6%). Lauderdale County, Tennessee contains 258 public highway bridges. Roughly 36% are rated “Good,” 57.4% “Fair,” and 6.6% “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

258

Public highway bridges in Lauderdale County

Good condition

36%

93 of 258 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.4%

148 of 258 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.6%

17 of 258 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#78 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 258 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36% (93)

Fair

57.4% (148)

Poor

6.6% (17)

Lauderdale County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,377 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 728 crossings a day against 325 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 258 of 258 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

20.5% of Lauderdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

53 of the 258 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 36% 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 25.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 19 over CANE CREEK, built 1928, carries 3,130 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 12,377 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

13
1930s

4
1950s

5
1960s

18
1970s

23
1980s

102
1990s

41
2000s

23
2010s

19
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 102 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 39.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Lauderdale County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lauderdale County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	274	24.1%	72.3%	3.6%	1987
Sevier County	273	54.6%	43.2%	2.2%	1977
Lauderdale County (this page)	258	36%	57.4%	6.6%	1985
Humphreys County	250	24.4%	68%	7.6%	1978
Dickson County	243	58.8%	35.8%	5.3%	1975
Haywood County	241	35.3%	60.2%	4.6%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (258 bridges here).

Richardson County, NE · 258 bridges
Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 258 Good 93 Fair 148 Poor 17

All bridges (258)

Sort:

Lauderdale County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lauderdale County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,377 vehicle crossings a day

20.5% of Lauderdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lauderdale 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

All bridges (258)

FAS 87

FAU 209

FAS 209

NFA 821 (SA 4930)

NFA A491

NFA A055

FAP 3

FAP 3

FAS 88

FAS 19

FAU 209

FAP 3

FAS 88

FAU 1258 297434J

FAU 87

FAS 88

NFA 1482 (SA 4909)

NFA A001 (SA 4904)

NFA A015

NFA A053 (SA 4903)

NFA A061 (SA 4933)

NFA AO79

NFA A081 (SA 4916)

NFA A510

NFA A095

NFA A102

NFA A111

NFA A117

NFA A121

NFA A124

NFA A134

NFA A134

NFA A134

NFA A151

NFA A196

NFA A197

NFA A231

NFA A257

NFA A263

NFA A271

NFA A271

NFA A321

NFA A351

NFA A354

NFA A356

NFA 1495 (SA 4925)

NFA 1495 (SA 4925)

NFA 1495 (SA 4925)

FAU 208

NFA 819 (SA 4915)

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