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.

Total bridges

169

Public highway bridges in Macon County

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.

1920s

1
1940s

7
1950s

11
1960s

17
1970s

13
1980s

59
1990s

31
2000s

19
2010s

11

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Macon County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 169 Good 118 Fair 43 Poor 8

All bridges (169)

Sort:

Macon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Macon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,450 vehicle crossings a day

24.3% of Macon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Macon 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 (169)

NFA A301

NFA A303

NFA A303

NFA A314

NFA A314

NFA A316

NFA A316

NFA A317

NFA A318

NFA A366

NFA A373

NFA A376

NFA A378

NFA A394

NFA A425

NFA A427

NFA A429

NFA A429

NFA A431

NFA A440

NFA A447

NFA A447

NFA A450

NFA A450

NFA A450

NFA A455

NFA A459

NFA A463

NFA A465

NFA A467

NFA A475

NFA A476

NFA A476

NFA A480

NFA B175

NFA B185

NFA 1080 (SA 5618)

FAS 261

NFA 1078 (SA 5622)

NFA 2092 (SA 5601)

NFA 1082 (SA 5603)

NFA 1082 (SA 5603)

FAP 10

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 052

FAP 52

FAP 052

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