County profile · official public datasets

Rhea County, TN

100 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34% rated Good, 59% Fair, 7% Poor.

100
Public bridges: 34%
Good condition: 7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

81st
of 95 on Poor share: 7%
Poor-condition share: 100
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.

Rhea County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rhea County ranks #81 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7%). Rhea County, Tennessee contains 100 public highway bridges. Roughly 34% are rated “Good,” 59% “Fair,” and 7% “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

100

Public highway bridges in Rhea County

Good condition

34%

34 of 100 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59%

59 of 100 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7 of 100 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 100 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34% (34)

Fair

59% (59)

Poor

7% (7)

Rhea County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,740 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,963 crossings a day against 3,013 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 100 of 100 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39% of Rhea County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 100 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 34% 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 31.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 30 over RICHLAND CREEK, built 1956, carries 6,443 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 20,740 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

9
1940s

5
1950s

9
1960s

14
1970s

6
1980s

16
1990s

14
2000s

22
2010s

3
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Rhea County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rhea County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scott County	111	24.3%	71.2%	4.5%	1973
Johnson County	109	44%	51.4%	4.6%	1972
Decatur County	104	35.6%	63.5%	1%	1982
DeKalb County	100	23%	70%	7%	1977
Rhea County (this page)	100	34%	59%	7%	1979
Claiborne County	98	35.7%	60.2%	4.1%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (100 bridges here).

Ketchikan Gateway County, AK · 100 bridges
Gunnison County, CO · 100 bridges
Monroe County, FL · 100 bridges
Fayette County, IN · 100 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 100 Good 34 Fair 59 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (34)

Sort:

Rhea County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rhea County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,740 vehicle crossings a day

39% of Rhea County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rhea 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 (34)

FAP 68

NFA A307

FAS 443

NFA A011

NFA A146

NFA 2281 (SA 7212)

NFA A523

NFA 1162 (SA 7215)

FAP 68

NFA A523

NFA A442 (SA 7219)

NFA 1162 (SA 7215)

NFA 2279 (SA 7203)

FAS 378

NFA A062

NFA A120

NFA A121

NFA A197

NFA A207

NFA A302

NFA A302

NFA A337

0A023

0A023

FAS 302

FAS 303

NFA 1195 (SA 7204)

FAP 29

FAP 29

FAP 29

FAP 29

FAP 29

FAU 60

FAS 302

Related