County profile · official public datasets

Meigs County, TN

76 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.9% rated Good, 42.1% Fair, 3.9% Poor.

76
Public bridges: 53.9%
Good condition: 3.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Meigs County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

52nd
of 95 on Poor share: 3.9%
Poor-condition share: 76
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Meigs County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Meigs County ranks #52 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Meigs County, Tennessee contains 76 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.9% are rated “Good,” 42.1% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Meigs County

Good condition

53.9%

41 of 76 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.1%

32 of 76 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.9%

3 of 76 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 76 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.9% (41)

Fair

42.1% (32)

Poor

3.9% (3)

Meigs County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,244 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,415 crossings a day against 806 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 76 of 76 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.5% of Meigs County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

27 of the 76 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 53.9% 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 67.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 60 over TENNESSEE RIVER, built 1995, carries 4,894 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,244 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

2
1930s

10
1940s

3
1950s

2
1960s

5
1970s

7
1980s

20
1990s

12
2000s

10
2010s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Meigs County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Meigs County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Grundy County	85	49.4%	49.4%	1.2%	1969
Bledsoe County	83	50.6%	48.2%	1.2%	1970
Overton County	78	55.1%	41%	3.8%	1977
Meigs County (this page)	76	53.9%	42.1%	3.9%	1975
Moore County	69	53.6%	46.4%	0%	1974
White County	69	34.8%	59.4%	5.8%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (76 bridges here).

San Benito County, CA · 76 bridges
Screven County, GA · 76 bridges
Washington County, GA · 76 bridges
Wayne County, KY · 76 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 76 Good 41 Fair 32 Poor 3

All bridges (76)

Sort:

Meigs County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Meigs County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,244 vehicle crossings a day

35.5% of Meigs County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 67.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Meigs 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 (76)

FAP 58

NFA A340

FAS 304

NFA 1191 (SA 6111)

FAS 304

FAP 58

NFA 1189 (SA 6105)

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 58

FAP 68

NFA 2273

NFA 2275 (SA 6110)

NFA A066

NFA A067

NFA A076

NFA A076

NFA A077

NFA A082

NFA A102

NFA A118

NFA A122 (SA 6114)

NFA A127

NFA 1128 (SA 6102)

NFA 1191 (SA 6111)

FAS 30

FAP 58

FAP 58

NFA 947 (SA 6106)

FAS 304

FAP 58

NFA 2275 (SA 6110)

NFA 947 (SA 6106)

FAS 306

FAS 306

NFA 1189 (SA 6105)

NFA 2271 (SA 6108)

NFA 2271 (SA 6108)

NFA 2275 (SA 6110)

NFA 2275 (SA 6110)

NFA A066

NFA A028

NFA A076

NFA A078

NFA A082

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