Total bridges
186
Public highway bridges in Montgomery County
County profile · official public datasets
Montgomery County, TN
186 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.6% rated Good, 57.5% Fair, 5.9% Poor.
- 186
- Public bridges
- 36.6%
- Good condition
- 5.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Montgomery County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 73rd
- of 95 on Poor share
- 5.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 186
- public highway bridges
- 1979
- 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.
Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montgomery County ranks #73 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Montgomery County, Tennessee contains 186 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.6% are rated “Good,” 57.5% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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.
Good condition
36.6%
68 of 186 rated 7-9
Fair condition
57.5%
107 of 186 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.9%
11 of 186 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#73 of 95
Among Tennessee counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 186 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 36.6% (68)
Fair 57.5% (107)
Poor 5.9% (11)
Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,968 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,815 crossings a day against 11,429 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 186 of 186 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
39.8% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
74 of the 186 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 36.6% 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 41.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
FAP 13 298336W over IC RR (REMOVED), built 1956, carries 17,368 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 41,968 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Montgomery County's bridges were built
186 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 19
1950–1959
19 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
39 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
49 bridges
- 1990s 16
1990–1999
16 bridges
- 2000s 16
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s 10
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 49 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 (1979) matches the Tennessee average (1977).
How Montgomery County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Montgomery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carter County | 195 | 44.6% | 43.1% | 12.3% | 1976 |
| Hardin County | 192 | 36.5% | 59.9% | 3.6% | 1982 |
| Cocke County | 190 | 20% | 71.6% | 8.4% | 1977 |
| Hawkins County | 190 | 21.1% | 70% | 8.9% | 1971 |
| Henry County | 187 | 39% | 56.7% | 4.3% | 1978 |
| Montgomery County (this page) | 186 | 36.6% | 57.5% | 5.9% | 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TN (186 bridges here).
- Fayette County, AL · 186 bridges
- Adams County, IA · 186 bridges
- Marion County, MO · 186 bridges
- Coshocton County, OH · 186 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1979 here).
- Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
- Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
- Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
- McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (107)
NFA 1855 (SA 6303)
FairOver: SULLIVAN BRANCH
7 M. S. PALMYRA., Montgomery, TN
Built 1964 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 272
FAP 13
FairOver: BRANCH
2.1 MI.S.OF KENTUCKY, Montgomery, TN
Built 1959 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 9,238
NFA A445
FairOver: BAGGETT BRANCH
5 M. S. PALMYRA., Montgomery, TN
Built 1978 Load: 63.8 t ADT: 110
CENTERLINE ROAD
FairOver: FLETCHERS FORK CR
525-452, Montgomery, TN
Built 1968 Load: 80.4 t ADT: 300
FAS 13
FairOver: EAST FORK CREEK
12.9 MI SW OF CLARKSVILLE, Montgomery, TN
Built 1978 Load: 81.0 t ADT: 2,001
MABRY ROAD
FairOver: DRY FORK CREEK
540-529, Montgomery, TN
Built 1980 Load: 92.0 t ADT: 300
MABRY ROAD
FairOver: NOAHS SPRING BRANCH
0.25 MI E BOILING SPRING, Montgomery, TN
Built 2008 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 300
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.