Total bridges
368
Public highway bridges in Sullivan County
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.
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.
When Sullivan County's bridges were built
368 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 13
1940–1949
13 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
52 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
65 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
72 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
81 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
42 bridges
- 2000s 13
2000–2009
13 bridges
- 2010s 9
2010–2019
9 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (10)
ROAD 910
PoorOver: MADD CREEK
HOLSTON AAP PLANT A, Sullivan, TN
Built 1950 ADT: 50
NFA A839
PoorOver: HARPERS CREEK
WYATT HOLLOW RD-N OF 421, Sullivan, TN
Built 1988 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 120
NFA A839
PoorOver: HARPERS CREEK
WYATT HOLLOW RD-N OF 421, Sullivan, TN
Built 1988 Load: 9.4 t ADT: 120
NFA 1392
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
1 MI.N.OF CARTER CO. LN., Sullivan, TN
Built 1928 Load: 12.0 t ADT: 800
NFA 1392
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
1 MI.N.OF CARTER CO. LN., Sullivan, TN
Built 1928 Load: 13.9 t ADT: 800
PIEDMONT AVE
PoorOver: BEAVER CREEK
TN-VA ST LN IN BRISTOL, Sullivan, TN
Built 1975 Load: 18.8 t ADT: 8,273
FAU 3899
PoorOver: BR OF REEDY CREEK
FT ROBINSON DR-KINGSPORT, Sullivan, TN
Built 1938 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 3,100
FAS 44
PoorOver: BRANCH
1.9 M SW JCT DR44&SR358, Sullivan, TN
Built 1977 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 1,302
FAU 355
PoorOver: REEDY CREEK
.66 MI.S.OF SR001, Sullivan, TN
Built 1955 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 6,249
NFA B357
PoorOver: I26
NW OF I181-I81 JCT, Sullivan, TN
Built 1972 Load: 28.2 t ADT: 380
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.