County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, TN

304 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.6% rated Good, 44.4% Fair, 3% Poor.

304
Public bridges: 52.6%
Good condition: 3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 3%
Poor-condition share: 304
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #36 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3%). Lincoln County, Tennessee contains 304 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.6% are rated “Good,” 44.4% “Fair,” and 3% “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

304

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

52.6%

160 of 304 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.4%

135 of 304 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9 of 304 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#36 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 304 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.6% (160)

Fair

44.4% (135)

Poor

3% (9)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 821 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 91 crossings a day against 1,845 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 304 of 304 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.1% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

137 of the 304 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 52.6% 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 36.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 1975 (SA 5219) over LEATHERWOOD CREEK, built 1960, carries 301 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 821 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

10
1930s

16
1940s

22
1950s

31
1960s

39
1970s

37
1980s

63
1990s

42
2000s

30
2010s

11
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 63 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lincoln County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hickman County	331	38.7%	56.2%	5.1%	1979
Giles County	321	56.1%	41.7%	2.2%	1968
Greene County	306	30.4%	67%	2.6%	1974
Lincoln County (this page)	304	52.6%	44.4%	3%	1974
Bedford County	294	58.5%	38.8%	2.7%	1973
Washington County	284	48.6%	48.9%	2.5%	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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (304 bridges here).

Coles County, IL · 304 bridges
Knox County, IL · 304 bridges
Marshall County, IA · 304 bridges
Osage County, KS · 304 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1974 here).

Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Pierce County, WA · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 304 Good 160 Fair 135 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (135)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 821 vehicle crossings a day

45.1% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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 (135)

NFA A505

NFA A527

NFA A537

NFA A712

FAS 129

FAS 274

NFA 1033 (SA 5209)

FAP 10

FAP 10

FAP 15

FAP 15

FAP 50

FAP 50

FAS 121

FAS 244

FAS 273

NFA A381

NFA 1968 (SA 5215)

NFA 1968 (SA 5215)

NFA A250

NFA A187

NFA A187

NFA A197

FAS 275

FAP 10

FAS 121

FAS 244

NFA A189

NFA A147

FAS 244

NFA 1969 (SA 5212)

NFA A151

NFA A148

NFA A147

NFA A151

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