Total bridges
304
Public highway bridges in Lincoln County
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.
Good condition
52.6%
160 of 304 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.4%
135 of 304 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3%
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.
When Lincoln County's bridges were built
304 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 10
1920–1929
10 bridges
- 1930s 16
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s 22
1940–1949
22 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
31 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
39 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
63 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
42 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s 11
2010–2019
11 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (9)
NFA A405
PoorOver: ELK RIVER
LINCOLN COUNTY, Lincoln, TN
Built 1901 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100
NFA A373
PoorOver: LITTLE CANE CREEK
1 M. N. OF ALABAMA, Lincoln, TN
Built 1970 Load: 10.7 t ADT: 70
NFA A001
PoorOver: EAST FORK MULBERRY CREEK
2 M. E. MULBERRY., Lincoln, TN
Built 1947 Load: 13.3 t ADT: 40
NFA A463
PoorOver: KELLY CREEK
6 M. NW. TAFT., Lincoln, TN
Built 1940 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 130
NFA A156
PoorOver: NORRIS CREEK
3 M. N. FAYETTEVILLE., Lincoln, TN
Built 1988 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 40
NFA A187
PoorOver: MULBERRY CREEK
2 M. S. KELSO., Lincoln, TN
Built 1965 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 40
NFA A441
PoorOver: COLDWATER CREEK
2.5 M. NE. TAFT., Lincoln, TN
Built 1975 Load: 27.0 t ADT: 20
NFA 1975 (SA 5219)
PoorOver: LEATHERWOOD CREEK
14 M. W. FAYETTEVILLE., Lincoln, TN
Built 1960 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 301
NFA A101
PoorOver: LITTLE CANE CREEK
11 M. N. FAYETTEVILLE, Lincoln, TN
Built 1991 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 80
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.