Total bridges
284
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
Washington County, TN
284 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.6% rated Good, 48.9% Fair, 2.5% Poor.
- 284
- Public bridges
- 48.6%
- Good condition
- 2.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 24%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 284
- 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.
Washington County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #23 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Washington County, Tennessee contains 284 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.6% are rated “Good,” 48.9% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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.
Good condition
48.6%
138 of 284 rated 7-9
Fair condition
48.9%
139 of 284 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.5%
7 of 284 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#23 of 95
Among Tennessee counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 284 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 48.6% (138)
Fair 48.9% (139)
Poor 2.5% (7)
Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,816 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,545 crossings a day against 15,346 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 284 of 284 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
37% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
105 of the 284 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 48.6% 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 71.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
FAP 34 244038W over CSX RAILROAD, built 1931, carries 27,789 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 38,816 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Washington County's bridges were built
284 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 22
1930–1939
22 bridges
- 1940s 10
1940–1949
10 bridges
- 1950s 23
1950–1959
23 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
34 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
51 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
65 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
38 bridges
- 2000s 16
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s 13
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 7
2020–2029
7 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% 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 Washington County compares with Tennessee's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 94 Tennessee counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greene County | 306 | 30.4% | 67% | 2.6% | 1974 |
| Lincoln County | 304 | 52.6% | 44.4% | 3% | 1974 |
| Bedford County | 294 | 58.5% | 38.8% | 2.7% | 1973 |
| Washington County (this page) | 284 | 48.6% | 48.9% | 2.5% | 1976 |
| Wayne County | 274 | 24.1% | 72.3% | 3.6% | 1987 |
| Sevier County | 273 | 54.6% | 43.2% | 2.2% | 1977 |
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 Washington 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 Washington County, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TN (284 bridges here).
- Logan County, OK · 284 bridges
- Tillman County, OK · 284 bridges
- Cambria County, PA · 284 bridges
- Susquehanna County, PA · 284 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.
Poor-condition bridges (7)
NFA B181
PoorOver: LITTLE CHEROKEE CREEK
N OFF SR67-1 M E OF SR81, Washington, TN
Built 1930 Load: 8.1 t ADT: 610
FAS 353
PoorOver: NOLICHUCKY RIVER
.5 M NE JCT SR107&SR353, Washington, TN
Built 1958 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 1,355
NFA A970
PoorOver: LITTLE LIMESTONE CREEK
IN TELFORD, Washington, TN
Built 1920 Load: 15.2 t ADT: 460
NFA 1352 (SA 9005)
PoorOver: CARSON CREEK
N OF US11E-.9M E OF CO L, Washington, TN
Built 1950 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 440
FAP 34 244038W
PoorOver: CSX RAILROAD
1.6 M SW JCT SR34&SR91, Washington, TN
Built 1931 Load: 25.3 t ADT: 27,789
FAU 3960
PoorOver: CSX RAILROAD
JUST E OF I181-SR67 EXCH, Washington, TN
Built 1988 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 7,462
NFA B435 244046N
PoorOver: CSX RAILROAD
JUST W OF SR381-SR67 JCT, Washington, TN
Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 700
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.