County profile · official public datasets

Shelby County, TN

1,077 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.3% rated Good, 73.5% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

1,077
Public bridges: 21.3%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

70th
of 95 on Poor share: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 1,077
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.

Shelby County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shelby County ranks #70 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Shelby County, Tennessee contains 1,077 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.3% are rated “Good,” 73.5% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

1,077

Public highway bridges in Shelby County

Good condition

21.3%

229 of 1,077 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73.5%

792 of 1,077 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

56 of 1,077 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#70 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 1,077 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.3% (229)

Fair

73.5% (792)

Poor

5.2% (56)

Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 891,624 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 15,922 crossings a day against 21,862 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 1,077 of 1,077 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.3% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

542 of the 1,077 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 21.3% 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 6.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 177 over WOLF RIVER, built 1958, carries 59,405 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 56-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 891,624 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

19
1930s

39
1940s

20
1950s

96
1960s

298
1970s

138
1980s

88
1990s

181
2000s

127
2010s

54
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 298 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Shelby County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Shelby County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Shelby County (this page)	1,077	21.3%	73.5%	5.2%	1977
Davidson County	832	49%	46.3%	4.7%	1973
Knox County	588	49.8%	48.6%	1.5%	1974
Williamson County	520	63.5%	33.1%	3.5%	1984
Hamilton County	464	46.8%	47%	6.3%	1976
Rutherford County	428	60.3%	35.5%	4.2%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (1,077 bridges here).

Jefferson County, AL · 1,068 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · 1,057 bridges
Riverside County, CA · 1,117 bridges
Collin County, TX · 1,127 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
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 1,077 Good 229 Fair 792 Poor 56

Good-condition bridges (229)

Sort:

Shelby County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 891,624 vehicle crossings a day

50.3% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 6.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Shelby 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 (229)

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAS 204

FAS 204

FAS 385

FAS 385

FAU 385

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAU 385

FAU 385

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAU 385

I 269

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAP 385

FAU 385

FAP 4

FAU 385

FAP 14

I 269

FAU 5436

FAP 385

FAP 14 RAMP

FAU 2861

Related