Total bridges
202
Public highway bridges in Smith County
County profile · official public datasets
Smith County, TN
202 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.4% rated Good, 33.7% Fair, 9.9% Poor.
- 202
- Public bridges
- 56.4%
- Good condition
- 9.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Smith County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 90th
- of 95 on Poor share
- 9.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 202
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Smith County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Smith County ranks #90 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.9%). Smith County, Tennessee contains 202 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.4% are rated “Good,” 33.7% “Fair,” and 9.9% “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.
Good condition
56.4%
114 of 202 rated 7-9
Fair condition
33.7%
68 of 202 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9.9%
20 of 202 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#90 of 95
Among Tennessee counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 202 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 56.4% (114)
Fair 33.7% (68)
Poor 9.9% (20)
Smith County's Poor-condition bridges carry 249,901 vehicle crossings a day
That is 16.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,495 crossings a day against 3,608 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 202 of 202 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
54.5% of Smith County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
110 of the 202 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 56.4% 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 18% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I40 349207A over CSX RR & COUNTY ROAD, built 1962, carries 44,898 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 249,901 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Smith County's bridges were built
202 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 10
1940–1949
10 bridges
- 1950s 13
1950–1959
13 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
57 bridges
- 1970s 21
1970–1979
21 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
55 bridges
- 1990s 19
1990–1999
19 bridges
- 2000s 3
2000–2009
3 bridges
- 2010s 8
2010–2019
8 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.
How Smith County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Smith County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 8 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henderson County | 207 | 31.9% | 64.7% | 3.4% | 1983 |
| Robertson County | 204 | 63.7% | 34.8% | 1.5% | 1975 |
| Smith County (this page) | 202 | 56.4% | 33.7% | 9.9% | 1971 |
| Tipton County | 201 | 40.3% | 55.2% | 4.5% | 1985 |
| Bradley County | 199 | 58.8% | 38.7% | 2.5% | 1975 |
| Carter County | 195 | 44.6% | 43.1% | 12.3% | 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 Smith 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 Smith County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TN (202 bridges here).
- Elmore County, AL · 202 bridges
- Clark County, AR · 202 bridges
- St. Francis County, AR · 202 bridges
- Floyd County, GA · 202 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (68)
I40
FairOver: BETTYS BEND RD (A138)
IN SMITH CO., Smith, TN
Built 1962 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 44,898
I40
FairOver: CANEY FORK RIV & NFA A43
0.03 MI W. PUTNAM CO. LN., Smith, TN
Built 1971 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 44,898
I40
FairOver: CANEY FORK RIV & NFA A43
0.03 MI W. PUTNAM CO. LN, Smith, TN
Built 1971 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 44,898
NFA 1087 (SA 8022)
FairOver: DEFEATED CREEK
3.9 MI NE JCT SR85&SR263, Smith, TN
Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 724
NFA 1070 (SA 8006)
FairOver: FALL CREEK
2.5 MI NW JCT SR24&WILSON, Smith, TN
Built 1930 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 808
FAP 401 (SR 24)
FairOver: WARD CREEK
1 MILE WEST OF CARTHAGE, Smith, TN
Built 1938 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,375
FAP 25
FairOver: SR 25 / SR 24
1 MI NW JCT SR24&SR53, Smith, TN
Built 1990 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 9,646
FAP 25
FairOver: DIXON CREEK
.76 MI.E.OF TROUSDALE CO., Smith, TN
Built 1962 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,950
FAP 25
FairOver: BRANCH
4.42 MI.NW.OF CARTHAGE, Smith, TN
Built 1963 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,607
FAP 53
FairOver: BRANCH
1.7 MI.E.OF GORDONSVILLE, Smith, TN
Built 1978 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 11,303
FAP 80
FairOver: BRANCH
2.6 M NE JCT SR80&SR25, Smith, TN
Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,728
FAP 80
FairOver: PEYTONS CREEK
4.69 MI.NORTH OF CARTHAGE, Smith, TN
Built 1952 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,728
FAP 80
FairOver: PEYTON CREEK
1.7 MI NE JCT SR25&SR80, Smith, TN
Built 1987 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,574
FAS 141
FairOver: HICKMAN CREEK
1.3 MI.SE.OF GORDONSVILLE, Smith, TN
Built 1972 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 713
FAS 264
FairOver: CANEY FORK RIVER
1.46 MI. NE.OF SR141, Smith, TN
Built 1973 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,646
I40
FairOver: CANEY FORK RIVER
IN SMITH CO., Smith, TN
Built 1962 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 44,898
I40
FairOver: BOLLING BRANCH & PRIV. R
IN SMITH CO., Smith, TN
Built 1962 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 44,898
FAP 53
FairOver: MULHERRIN CREEK
.9 M E JCT SR141&I40, Smith, TN
Built 1947 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 873
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.