County profile · official public datasets

Sumner County, TN

398 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.1% rated Good, 26.4% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

398
Public bridges: 69.1%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

60th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 398
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Sumner County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sumner County ranks #60 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Sumner County, Tennessee contains 398 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.1% are rated “Good,” 26.4% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

398

Public highway bridges in Sumner County

Good condition

69.1%

275 of 398 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.4%

105 of 398 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

18 of 398 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#60 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 398 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

69.1% (275)

Fair

26.4% (105)

Poor

4.5% (18)

Sumner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 177,057 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,837 crossings a day against 9,752 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 398 of 398 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.5% of Sumner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

165 of the 398 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 69.1% 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 33.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 386 over SR386-LL / SR6 & RAMP F, built 2006, carries 59,055 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 177,057 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

2
1930s

16
1940s

24
1950s

31
1960s

65
1970s

37
1980s

114
1990s

58
2000s

33
2010s

10
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 114 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Sumner County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 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 Sumner County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Maury County	424	22.9%	70.8%	6.4%	1975
Madison County	418	31.8%	64.1%	4.1%	1983
Wilson County	402	60.7%	31.1%	8.2%	1972
Sumner County (this page)	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (398 bridges here).

Muskogee County, OK · 398 bridges
Bradford County, PA · 399 bridges
Crawford County, PA · 399 bridges
Wichita County, TX · 399 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 398 Good 275 Fair 105 Poor 18

Good-condition bridges (275)

Sort:

Sumner County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sumner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 177,057 vehicle crossings a day

41.5% of Sumner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sumner 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 (275)

NFA C033

NFA 0C666

NFA 0C681

NFA C681

NFA C681

NFA 1073

NFA 1073

I65

I65

FAU 3946 343812D

FAS 174

FAS 258

FAS 174

FAP 6 343811W

FAP 6

FAP 6

FAP 6

FAP 6

FAP 109

FAP 109

FAP 386 RAMP

FAP 386 RAMP

FAP 386 RAMP

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 25

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAP 52

NFA B477

FAP 52

FAP 52

FAU 5366 343792U

FAP 109

FAP 109

FAP 109

FAP 109

FAP 109

FAP 109

NFA 6096

FAS 174

FAS 174

FAS 174

FAP 386

FAP 386

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