County profile · official public datasets

Sevier County, TN

273 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.6% rated Good, 43.2% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

273
Public bridges: 54.6%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sevier County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 273
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.

Sevier County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sevier County ranks #20 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Sevier County, Tennessee contains 273 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.6% are rated “Good,” 43.2% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

273

Public highway bridges in Sevier County

Good condition

54.6%

149 of 273 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.2%

118 of 273 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

6 of 273 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 273 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.6% (149)

Fair

43.2% (118)

Poor

2.2% (6)

Sevier County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,518 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,420 crossings a day against 8,447 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 273 of 273 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.9% of Sevier County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

117 of the 273 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 54.6% 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 54.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA B006 over W PRG LITTLE PIGEON RIVE, built 1913, carries 7,870 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 14,518 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

3
1920s

2
1930s

23
1940s

12
1950s

27
1960s

35
1970s

28
1980s

52
1990s

30
2000s

36
2010s

23
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% 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 Sevier County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Sevier County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sevier County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bedford County	294	58.5%	38.8%	2.7%	1973
Washington County	284	48.6%	48.9%	2.5%	1976
Wayne County	274	24.1%	72.3%	3.6%	1987
Sevier County (this page)	273	54.6%	43.2%	2.2%	1977
Lauderdale County	258	36%	57.4%	6.6%	1985
Humphreys County	250	24.4%	68%	7.6%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (273 bridges here).

Orangeburg County, SC · 273 bridges
Cass County, NE · 274 bridges
Knox County, OH · 274 bridges
Rock Island County, IL · 272 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 273 Good 149 Fair 118 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (118)

Sort:

Sevier County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sevier County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,518 vehicle crossings a day

42.9% of Sevier County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 54.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sevier 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 (118)

NFA A358

WEAR COVE GAP ROAD

NFA A065

ELKMONT CAMPGROUND

NEWFOUND GAP ROAD

RAMSEY CASCADES RO

NFA B964

GATLINBURG SPUR

FAS 139

GATLINBURG BYPASS

CAMPBELL LEAD ROAD

SB GATLINBURG SPUR

FAS 416

NEWFOUND GAP ROAD

SPUR CROSSOVER ROA

GATLINBURG BYPASS

NFA A469

FAP 35

NFA A852

SPUR CROSSOVER ROA

FAP 35

FAP 66

FAP 66

LITTLE RIVER ROAD

RAMSEY CASCADES RO

NFA 2441

NFA A068

NFA A331 (SA 7824)

NFA A147

NFA C633

NFA A524

NFA A527

FAS 339

FAS 338

NFA 1142 (SA 7811)

FAP 71

FAP 73

FAP 73

FAS 139

LAUREL CREEK ROAD

SB GATLINBURG SPUR

FAP 35

FAP 35

NFA A566

NFA B326

FAP 71

NEWFOUND GAP ROAD

FAP 35

FAP 73

NEWFOUND GAP ROAD

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