Total bridges
418
Public highway bridges in Madison County
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.
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.
When Madison County's bridges were built
418 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 22
1920–1929
22 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
37 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
45 bridges
- 1970s 21
1970–1979
21 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
86 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
92 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
64 bridges
- 2010s 31
2010–2019
31 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (17)
NFA A364
PoorOver: OVERFLOW
1.3 MI N JCT SR18&HAEDEMA, Madison, TN
Built 1945 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 10
NFA A386
PoorOver: OVERFLOW
2.5 MI SW JCT SR138&SR223, Madison, TN
Built 1968 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 30
NFA A785
PoorOver: BRANCH
3.1 MI SW JCT SR138&SR223, Madison, TN
Built 1968 Load: 6.2 t ADT: 100
NFA 5568 (SA 5708)
PoorOver: ROBERTSON CREEK
E OF HAYWOOD COUNTY, Madison, TN
Built 1965 Load: 6.2 t ADT: 418
NFA A980 (SA 5710)
PoorOver: OVERFLOW
1.2 MI JCT OF SR 1, Madison, TN
Built 1922 Load: 10.7 t ADT: 2,294
NFA A301
PoorOver: BRANCH
4.5 MI NE JCT SR5&SR18, Madison, TN
Built 1970 Load: 10.7 t ADT: 430
NFA A980 (SA 5710)
PoorOver: OVERFLOW
1 MI JCT OF SR 1, Madison, TN
Built 1922 Load: 16.5 t ADT: 2,294
NFA A980 (SA 5710)
PoorOver: OVERFLOW
0.4 MI JCT OF SR 1, Madison, TN
Built 1922 Load: 16.5 t ADT: 2,294
NFA B290 (SA 5725)
PoorOver: I40
W. OF JACKSON, Madison, TN
Built 1960 Load: 18.8 t ADT: 270
FAP 5
PoorOver: BEAR CREEK
IN PINSON, Madison, TN
Built 1928 Load: 21.4 t ADT: 18,146
FAU 3043
PoorOver: BRANCH
IN JACKSON CITY LIMITS, Madison, TN
Built 1930 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 9,794
NFA 872 (SA 5733)
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK FORKED DEER
3.2 MI SW JCT SR1&SR152, Madison, TN
Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,829
NFA A087
PoorOver: BRANCH
IN CITY OF THREE WAY, Madison, TN
Built 2005 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 580
NFA A336
PoorOver: BEAR CREEK
2.4 MI SW JCT SR5&SR197, Madison, TN
Built 1982 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 220
NFA A399
PoorOver: BRANCH
2.9 MI NW JCT SR138&SR223, Madison, TN
Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 20
NFA A603
PoorOver: ANDERSON BRANCH
IN THE CITY OF JACKSON, Madison, TN
Built 1977 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 810
FAS 152
PoorOver: I40
1.5 MI.W.OF HENDERSON CO., Madison, TN
Built 1960 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,127
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.