Total bridges
169
Public highway bridges in Macon County
County profile · official public datasets
Macon County, TN
169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.8% rated Good, 25.4% Fair, 4.7% Poor.
- 169
- Public bridges
- 69.8%
- Good condition
- 4.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Macon 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.
- 66th
- of 95 on Poor share
- 4.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 169
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Macon County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Macon County ranks #66 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Macon County, Tennessee contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.8% are rated “Good,” 25.4% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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
69.8%
118 of 169 rated 7-9
Fair condition
25.4%
43 of 169 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.7%
8 of 169 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#66 of 95
Among Tennessee counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 69.8% (118)
Fair 25.4% (43)
Poor 4.7% (8)
Macon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,450 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 431 crossings a day against 608 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 169 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
24.3% of Macon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
41 of the 169 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 69.8% 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 39.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
FAS 56 over LITTLE SALT LICK CREEK, built 1964, carries 1,352 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 3,450 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Macon County's bridges were built
169 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s 11
1950–1959
11 bridges
- 1960s 17
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s 13
1970–1979
13 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
59 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
31 bridges
- 2000s 19
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s 11
2010–2019
11 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 6 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.
How Macon County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Macon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 6 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion County | 177 | 53.7% | 42.9% | 3.4% | 1971 |
| Anderson County | 175 | 25.1% | 71.4% | 3.4% | 1974 |
| Macon County (this page) | 169 | 69.8% | 25.4% | 4.7% | 1983 |
| Stewart County | 168 | 56.5% | 43.5% | 0% | 1977 |
| Crockett County | 167 | 44.9% | 54.5% | 0.6% | 1985 |
| Putnam County | 167 | 50.9% | 46.7% | 2.4% | 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 Macon 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 Macon County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TN (169 bridges here).
- Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
- Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
- Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
- Union County, IA · 169 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1983 here).
- Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
- Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (118)
FAP 52
GoodOver: LONG HUNGRY CREEK
1 MI W RED BOILING SPRING, Macon, TN
Built 1972 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,936
FAP 52
GoodOver: BRANCH
3 M W JCT SR56&SR52, Macon, TN
Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,936
FAP 52
GoodOver: TRAMMEL CREEK
1 M E SUMNER CO LINE, Macon, TN
Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 8,950
FAP 52
GoodOver: BRANCH
E OF SR261&NEAL DRAPER RD, Macon, TN
Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,936
FAP 052
GoodOver: SALT LICK CREEK
IN RED BOILING SPRINGS, Macon, TN
Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,360
FAP 52
GoodOver: SR6-RL/OLD WILLIAMSPORT
SR52 IN S E OF RED BOLING, Macon, TN
Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,360
FAP 052
GoodOver: BRANCH
IN RED BOILING SPRINGS, Macon, TN
Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,360
FAP 052
GoodOver: WITCHER HOLLOW BRANCH
IN RED BOILING SPRINGS, Macon, TN
Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,360
FAS 56
GoodOver: JENNINGS CREEK
.93 MI W OF JACKSON CO., Macon, TN
Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71
FAS 56
GoodOver: JENNINGS CREEK
1.2 MI. W. OF JACKSON CO., Macon, TN
Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71
FAS 56
GoodOver: BRANCH
.75 MI.S.OF KENTUCKY LINE, Macon, TN
Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 963
FAS 56
GoodOver: BRANCH
1 M. W. JACKSON CO. LINE, Macon, TN
Built 1993 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71
FAS 56
GoodOver: BRANCH
1 M. W. JACKSON CO. LINE, Macon, TN
Built 1993 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71
FAS 56
GoodOver: BRANCH
1 M. W. JACKSON CO. LINE, Macon, TN
Built 1993 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 71
FAP 151
GoodOver: SALT LICK CREEK
IN RED BOILING SPRINGS, Macon, TN
Built 2017 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 313
NFA A031
GoodOver: DRY BRANCH
7.6 M N OF EULIA, Macon, TN
Built 1984 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 120
NFA A378
GoodOver: BRANCH
1 M S RED BOILING SPRINGS, Macon, TN
Built 1975 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 50
FAP 52
GoodOver: LONG FORK CREEK
E OF SR261 NEAR DRAPER RD, Macon, TN
Built 1995 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 4,936
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.