County profile · official public datasets

Sullivan County, TN

368 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.1% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

368
Public bridges: 42.1%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 368
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sullivan County ranks #29 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Sullivan County, Tennessee contains 368 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.1% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

368

Public highway bridges in Sullivan County

Good condition

42.1%

155 of 368 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.2%

203 of 368 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

10 of 368 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 368 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.1% (155)

Fair

55.2% (203)

Poor

2.7% (10)

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,194 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,119 crossings a day against 10,497 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 368 of 368 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.2% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

192 of the 368 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 42.1% 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 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PIEDMONT AVE over BEAVER CREEK, built 1975, carries 8,273 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 21,194 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

12
1940s

13
1950s

52
1960s

65
1970s

72
1980s

81
1990s

42
2000s

13
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 81 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Sullivan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sullivan County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sumner County	398	69.1%	26.4%	4.5%	1976
Gibson County	386	32.9%	62.4%	4.7%	1987
Obion County	381	43.8%	53.3%	2.9%	1983
Sullivan County (this page)	368	42.1%	55.2%	2.7%	1973
Weakley County	351	43.3%	55.6%	1.1%	1987
Fayette County	336	23.8%	68.8%	7.4%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (368 bridges here).

Schuylkill County, PA · 368 bridges
Saline County, KS · 369 bridges
Suffolk County, NY · 369 bridges
Cass County, ND · 369 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges

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

All 368 Good 155 Fair 203 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (155)

Sort:

Sullivan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sullivan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,194 vehicle crossings a day

52.2% of Sullivan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sullivan 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 (155)

I81

I81

FAP 394

NFA B419

STATE STREET

FAS 357

FAP 34

I81

FAU 36

NFA 2595 (SA 8203)

NFA 1382

NFA A427

NFA B416

NFA C831

I81

NFA B906

I81

I81 243997L

I81 243997L

I26 RT LN

I26 LT LN

I81

I81

I81

I81

I26 RT LN

FAP 34

FAP 34

NFA A518

I81

I81

I81

FAU 36 243996E

NFA B561

I81

FAS 44

FAS 44

NFA A348

NFA A014 (SA 8211)

I81

I81

FAP 34

FAP 93

FAP 93

W. RAVINE ROAD

I81

ACCESS ROAD

FAS 44

NFA A014

NFA 2640 (SA 8206)

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