County profile · official public datasets

Lewis County, TN

136 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.1% rated Good, 77.9% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

136
Public bridges: 19.1%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 37%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 136
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lewis County ranks #35 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Lewis County, Tennessee contains 136 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.1% are rated “Good,” 77.9% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

136

Public highway bridges in Lewis County

Good condition

19.1%

26 of 136 rated 7-9

Fair condition

77.9%

106 of 136 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

4 of 136 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#35 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 136 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.1% (26)

Fair

77.9% (106)

Poor

2.9% (4)

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,510 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 878 crossings a day against 898 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 136 of 136 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.6% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

62 of the 136 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 19.1% 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 75.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 48 over ROCKHOUSE CREEK, built 1931, carries 2,640 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 3,510 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

6
1960s

36
1970s

11
1980s

30
1990s

21
2000s

13
2010s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Lewis County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lewis County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Polk County	140	55%	37.1%	7.9%	1979
Campbell County	137	24.8%	71.5%	3.6%	1973
Cumberland County	137	32.8%	48.9%	18.2%	1971
Lewis County (this page)	136	19.1%	77.9%	2.9%	1979
Jackson County	131	39.7%	57.3%	3.1%	1978
Cheatham County	128	43.8%	50%	6.3%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (136 bridges here).

Bullock County, AL · 136 bridges
Jackson County, AR · 136 bridges
Perry County, IL · 136 bridges
Lincoln County, KY · 136 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 136 Good 26 Fair 106 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (106)

Sort:

Lewis County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lewis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,510 vehicle crossings a day

45.6% of Lewis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lewis 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 (106)

NFA A070

NFA A087

NFA A082

NFA 929 (SA 5116)

NFA 929 (SA 5116)

NFA A111 (SA 5116)

NFA A111 (SA 5116)

NFA A112

NFA A112

NFA A113

NFA A124 (SA 5117)

NFA A124 (SA 5117)

NFA A124 (SA 5117)

NFA A128

NFA 935

NFA 935

NFA 935

NFA A151

NFA A158

NFA A160

NFA A162

NFA A163

NFA A165

NFA A174

NFA A184

NFA A295

NFA A299

NFA A303

NFA A321

NFA A324

NFA A325

NFA A327

NFA A352

NFA A364

FAS 99

NFA 1842

NFA 942 (SA 5109)

NFA 1769 (SA 5103)

FAS 241

NFA 941 (SA 5105)

NFA 1829 (SA 5111)

NFA 1829 (SA 5111)

FAS 99

NFA 953 (SA 5112)

NFA 953 (SA 5112)

NFA 953 (SA 5112)

FAP 20

FAP 48

FAP 48

FAP 99

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