County profile · official public datasets

Roane County, TN

159 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.4% rated Good, 49.7% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

159
Public bridges: 48.4%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Roane County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 17%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 159
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Roane County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Roane County ranks #16 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Roane County, Tennessee contains 159 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.4% are rated “Good,” 49.7% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

159

Public highway bridges in Roane County

Good condition

48.4%

77 of 159 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.7%

79 of 159 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

3 of 159 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 159 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.4% (77)

Fair

49.7% (79)

Poor

1.9% (3)

Roane County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,504 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,168 crossings a day against 2,591 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 159 of 159 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.1% of Roane County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

94 of the 159 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 48.4% 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 75.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAU 1226 (SA 7310) over EMORY RIVER, built 1992, carries 7,216 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 9,504 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

10
1940s

11
1950s

20
1960s

36
1970s

20
1980s

26
1990s

12
2000s

11
2010s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 5 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Roane County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Roane County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Unicoi County	161	46%	49.1%	5%	1984
Warren County	160	48.1%	48.1%	3.8%	1976
Cannon County	159	45.9%	43.4%	10.7%	1974
Roane County (this page)	159	48.4%	49.7%	1.9%	1972
Franklin County	157	42.7%	53.5%	3.8%	1980
Perry County	153	23.5%	75.2%	1.3%	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 Roane 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 Roane County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (159 bridges here).

Franklin County, IN · 159 bridges
Decatur County, KS · 159 bridges
Cheyenne County, NE · 159 bridges
Morgan County, OH · 159 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 159 Good 77 Fair 79 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (77)

Sort:

Roane County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Roane County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,504 vehicle crossings a day

59.1% of Roane County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Roane 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 (77)

NFA A714

NFA A633

NFA A992

NFA A664

NFA A404

NFA B474

NFA B470

NFA 2366 (SA 7314)

FAU 3694 841864U

NFA 2366 (SA 7314)

NFA 1253 (SA 7303)

FAS 304

NFA 1230 (SA 7321)

NFA 2372

FAS 1

FAP 29

FAP 29

FAP 58

FAS 326

FAP 61

FAP 72

FAP 72

FAP 95

FAP 95

FAP 95

FAP 95 RAMP NBL

FAU 1 841881K

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