County profile · official public datasets

Overton County, TN

78 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.1% rated Good, 41% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

78
Public bridges: 55.1%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

50th
of 95 on Poor share: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 78
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Overton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Overton County ranks #50 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Overton County, Tennessee contains 78 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.1% are rated “Good,” 41% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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 Overton County

Good condition

55.1%

43 of 78 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41%

32 of 78 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

3 of 78 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 78 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.1% (43)

Fair

41% (32)

Poor

3.8% (3)

Overton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 604 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 201 crossings a day against 2,635 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 78 of 78 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.7% of Overton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

31 of the 78 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 55.1% 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 93.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 1205 (SA 6706) over R0ARING RIVER, built 1973, carries 564 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 604 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

9
1950s

5
1960s

3
1970s

12
1980s

23
1990s

9
2000s

6
2010s

5
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Overton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Overton 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 (this page)	78	55.1%	41%	3.8%	1977
Meigs County	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 Overton 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 Overton County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (78 bridges here).

Winston County, AL · 78 bridges
Marion County, FL · 78 bridges
Bryan County, GA · 78 bridges
Macon County, GA · 78 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Contra Costa County, CA · avg 1977 · 618 bridges

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

All 78 Good 43 Fair 32 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (43)

Sort:

Overton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Overton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 604 vehicle crossings a day

39.7% of Overton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 93.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Overton 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 (43)

FAP 111

FAP 85

NFA 2295 (SA 6715)

NFA 2306 (SA 6707)

FAP 84

NFA A008 (SA 6709)

NFA A045

NFA 1176 (SA 6704)

FAS 293

NFA 1176 (SA 6704)

NFA 1416 (SA 6708)

NFA 2236 (SA 6701)

NFA 2302 (SA 6702)

NFA A045

NFA A138

NFA A138

NFA A152

NFA A188

NFA A210

NFA A213

NFA A214

NFA A229

NFA A242

NFA A309

NFA A316

NFA A382

NFA A793

NFA A404

NFA A430

FAS 293

NFA 1506

NFA 1506

NFA 1506

NFA 1506

FAP 84

FAP 111

FAP 111

FAP 111

FAP 84

FAP 84

FAP 84

FAP 84 RAMP "B"

FAS 293

Related