County profile · official public datasets

Tipton County, TN

201 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.3% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

201
Public bridges: 40.3%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Tipton County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

58th
of 95 on Poor share: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 201
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Tipton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tipton County ranks #58 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Tipton County, Tennessee contains 201 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.3% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “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

201

Public highway bridges in Tipton County

Good condition

40.3%

81 of 201 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.2%

111 of 201 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

9 of 201 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#58 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 201 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.3% (81)

Fair

55.2% (111)

Poor

4.5% (9)

Tipton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,436 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 493 crossings a day against 1,919 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 201 of 201 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.4% of Tipton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 201 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 40.3% 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 24.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA 805 (SA 8406) over HURRICANE CREEK, built 1975, carries 1,093 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,436 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

10
1930s

1
1950s

12
1960s

21
1970s

22
1980s

40
1990s

36
2000s

32
2010s

23
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Tipton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tipton County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
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	202	56.4%	33.7%	9.9%	1971
Tipton County (this page)	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 Tipton 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 Tipton County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (201 bridges here).

Williamson County, IL · 201 bridges
Hancock County, IN · 201 bridges
Pocahontas County, IA · 201 bridges
McCracken County, KY · 201 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 201 Good 81 Fair 111 Poor 9

Good-condition bridges (81)

Sort:

Tipton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tipton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,436 vehicle crossings a day

27.4% of Tipton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tipton 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 (81)

NFA A885

NFA 808 (SA 8412)

NFA 808 (SA 8412)

FAS 179

NFA 806 (SA 8405)

FAS 206

NFA 810 (SA 8421)

NFA 810 (SA 8421)

FAS 384

NFA C001

NFA 1478 (SA 8411)

NFA 808 (SA 8412)

FAP 3

FAP 3

FAP 14

SR-14

FAP 54

FAS 59

FAS 59

FAP 59

FAP 59

FAP 59

FAS 384

FAU 4440

NFA A563

NFA A183

NFA A005

NFA A178

NFA 5446

NFA A202 (SA 8407)

FAU 2896

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