County profile · official public datasets

Rutherford County, TN

428 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.3% rated Good, 35.5% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

428
Public bridges: 60.3%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

56th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 428
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.

Rutherford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rutherford County ranks #56 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Rutherford County, Tennessee contains 428 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.3% are rated “Good,” 35.5% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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

428

Public highway bridges in Rutherford County

Good condition

60.3%

258 of 428 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35.5%

152 of 428 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.2%

18 of 428 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 428 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.3% (258)

Fair

35.5% (152)

Poor

4.2% (18)

Rutherford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 74,890 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,161 crossings a day against 14,820 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 428 of 428 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.3% of Rutherford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

168 of the 428 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 60.3% 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 31.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 268 over WEST FORK STONES RIVER, built 1966, carries 23,891 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 74,890 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

22
1940s

23
1950s

27
1960s

50
1970s

77
1980s

77
1990s

92
2000s

28
2010s

21
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 92 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Rutherford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rutherford County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hamilton County	464	46.8%	47%	6.3%	1976
Rutherford County (this page)	428	60.3%	35.5%	4.2%	1977
Maury County	424	22.9%	70.8%	6.4%	1975
Madison County	418	31.8%	64.1%	4.1%	1983
Wilson County	402	60.7%	31.1%	8.2%	1972
Sumner County	398	69.1%	26.4%	4.5%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (428 bridges here).

Hampden County, MA · 428 bridges
Tioga County, PA · 429 bridges
Smith County, TX · 427 bridges
Plymouth County, IA · 432 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 428 Good 258 Fair 152 Poor 18

Fair-condition bridges (152)

Sort:

Rutherford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rutherford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 74,890 vehicle crossings a day

39.3% of Rutherford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rutherford 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

Fair-condition bridges (152)

FAP 11

FAP 16

FAS 99

FAU 3372 (SA 7538)

NFA 2026 (SA 7514)

NFA 1084 (SA 7520)

NFA 1055 (SA 7525)

FAP 1

FAS 2

I24

I24

I24

I24

I24

I24

FAP 10

FAP 10

I840

FAP 1 RAMP D

FAP 1

FAP 1

NFA A237

NFA A269

NFA A374

FAP 1

FAP 1

I840

NFA 1046 (SA 7533)

FAS 268

FAU 1057 (SA 7526)

FAU 1059

FAU 1403

NFA 2013 (SA 7513)

NFA 2024 (SA 7503)

NFA 2026 (SA 7514)

FAU 3355

FAU 3355

FAU 3366

FAU 4044

FAU 5739

NFA A187

NFA A246

NFA A325

NFA A325

NFA A363

NFA A412

NFA A484

NFA A497

NFA A501

NFA A512

Related