County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, TN

418 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.8% rated Good, 64.1% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

418
Public bridges: 31.8%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Madison 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.

53rd
of 95 on Poor share: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 418
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #53 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Madison County, Tennessee contains 418 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.8% are rated “Good,” 64.1% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

418

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

31.8%

133 of 418 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.1%

268 of 418 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

17 of 418 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 418 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.8% (133)

Fair

64.1% (268)

Poor

4.1% (17)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,666 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,451 crossings a day against 4,636 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 418 of 418 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.3% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

131 of the 418 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 31.8% 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 43.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 5 over BEAR CREEK, built 1928, carries 18,146 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 41,666 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

22
1930s

3
1940s

8
1950s

37
1960s

45
1970s

21
1980s

86
1990s

92
2000s

64
2010s

31
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 92 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 6 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 1st-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 Madison County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rutherford County	428	60.3%	35.5%	4.2%	1977
Maury County	424	22.9%	70.8%	6.4%	1975
Madison County (this page)	418	31.8%	64.1%	4.1%	1983
Wilson County	402	60.7%	31.1%	8.2%	1972
Sumner County	398	69.1%	26.4%	4.5%	1976
Gibson County	386	32.9%	62.4%	4.7%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (418 bridges here).

Santa Barbara County, CA · 418 bridges
Lucas County, OH · 418 bridges
Kay County, OK · 419 bridges
Taylor County, TX · 419 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 418 Good 133 Fair 268 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (268)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,666 vehicle crossings a day

31.3% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (268)

FAS 198

FAS 223

FAS 223

FAS 223

NFA A980 (SA 5710)

NFA 1639 (SA 5709)

NFA 1399 (SA 5726)

NFA 1399 (SA 5726)

NFA 875 (SA 5738)

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAS 1

FAU 3044

FAP 1

FAP 1

FAP 1 299385W

FAP 1

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 5 350142F

FAP 5

FAP 5 299409H

FAP 5 299409H

FAP 5

FAP 43

FAP 5

FAP 5

FAP 20

FAP 20

FAP 20

NFA A050

FAP 20

NFA A050

FAU 20

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