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.

Total bridges

186

Public highway bridges in Montgomery County

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.

1900s

1
1930s

4
1940s

5
1950s

19
1960s

21
1970s

39
1980s

49
1990s

16
2000s

16
2010s

10
2020s

6

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.

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

All 186 Good 68 Fair 107 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (68)

Sort:

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,968 vehicle crossings a day

39.8% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montgomery 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

Good-condition bridges (68)

NFA A386

FAU 1869 (SA 6323)

NFA 1882 (SA 6325)

NFA A588

NFA A281

NFA B443

NFA 1880 (SA 6320)

NFA 1880 (SA 6320)

NFA A371

NFA A371

FAP 12

NFA A314

I24

I24

NFA A500

NFA A509

NFA A297

FAP 76

FAS 233

NFA A009

NFA A012

NFA A143 348165M

NFA A201

NFA A238

NFA A278

NFA A331

NFA A350

NFA A360

NFA A390

NFA A422

NFA 1892

NFA A554

NFA 1863 (SA 6307)

NFA A606

NFA A616

NFA B450

NFA B623

FAS 238

I24 348161K

I24 348161K

FAS 237

FAS 237

FAU 3148 (SA 6322)

FAS 236

NFA 975 (SA 6308)

NFA 975 (SA 6308)

NFA 958 (SA 6318)

FAP 12

FAP 12

FAP 13

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