County profile · official public datasets

Wayne County, TN

274 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.1% rated Good, 72.3% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

274
Public bridges
24.1%
Good condition
3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state
3.6%
Poor-condition share
274
public highway bridges
1987
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.

Wayne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #46 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Wayne County, Tennessee contains 274 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.1% are rated “Good,” 72.3% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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

274

Public highway bridges in Wayne County

Good condition

24.1%

66 of 274 rated 7-9

Fair condition

72.3%

198 of 274 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

10 of 274 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 274 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
24.1% (66)
Fair
72.3% (198)
Poor
3.6% (10)

Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,653 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 265 crossings a day against 535 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 274 of 274 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.2% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 274 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 24.1% 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 26.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK over COUNTY ROAD, built 1950, carries 700 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 2,653 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Wayne County's bridges were built

274 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 73 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 10 years newer than the Tennessee average of 1977.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wayne County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Bedford County 294 2.7%
Washington County 284 2.5%
Wayne County (this page) 274 3.6%
Sevier County 273 2.2%
Lauderdale County 258 6.6%
Humphreys County 250 7.6%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (274 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1987 here).

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

All 274 Good 66 Fair 198 Poor 10

All bridges (274)

FAP 15

Good

Over: HARDIN CREEK

10.5 MI W OF WAYNESBORO, Wayne, TN

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,762

FAP 15

Good

Over: HARDIN CREEK

10.5 MI W OF WAYNESBORO, Wayne, TN

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,762

FAP 15

Good

Over: PARKERS BRANCH

4 MI W OF WAYNESBORO, Wayne, TN

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,603

FAP 15

Good

Over: FORTY-EIGHT CREEK

2.7 MI E OF LIBERTY, Wayne, TN

Built 1969 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,328

FAP 15

Good

Over: FORTY-EIGHT CREEK

2.7 MI E OF LIBERTY, Wayne, TN

Built 2012 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,328

FAP 69

Good

Over: SECOND CREEK

.1 M E HARDIN CO LINE, Wayne, TN

Built 1990 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,273

FAS 114

Good

Over: ROACH CREEK

0.2 MI SE JCT SR114&SR128, Wayne, TN

Built 1996 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,997

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: SWEETWATER BRANCH

6.3 MILES TO U.S. ROUTE 6, Wayne, TN

Built 2003 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 700

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: CYPRESS CREEK RELIEF

7.6 MILES TO TN ROUTE 13, Wayne, TN

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 685

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: DULEN BRANCH

9.0 MILES TO TN ROUTE 13, Wayne, TN

Built 2003 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 680

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: TN ROUTE 13

19.2 MILES TO U.S. ROUTE, Wayne, TN

Built 2008 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 2,500

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: BIG CYPRESS CREEK

7.5 MILES TO TN ROUTE 13, Wayne, TN

Built 2003 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 680

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: CYPRESS CREEK BRANCH

6.5 MILES FROM AL ROUTE 2, Wayne, TN

Built 1964 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 675

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Good

Over: SWEETWATER BRANCH

13.2 MILES FROM TN ROUTE, Wayne, TN

Built 1964 Load: 79.8 t ADT: 690

FAS 203

Poor

Over: BEAR CREEK

4 MI.EAST OF HARDIN CO., Wayne, TN

Built 1962 Load: 9.7 t ADT: 436

NFA A140

Poor

Over: SIMMONS BRANCH

1.0 M NE JCT. SR15&SR99, Wayne, TN

Built 1999 Load: 11.7 t ADT: 30

NFA 1767 (SA 9108)

Poor

Over: HURRICANE CREEK

2.7 MI SE JCT SR13&SR15, Wayne, TN

Built 1967 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 94

NFA A229 (SA 9115)

Poor

Over: FACTORY CREEK

1.6 MI W OF LAWRENCE CO., Wayne, TN

Built 1955 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 30

NFA A252

Poor

Over: LITTLE SHAWNETTE CREEK

4.6 MI NE JCT SR13&SR203, Wayne, TN

Built 1970 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 70

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Poor

Over: COUNTY ROAD

7.1 MILES FROM TN ROUTE 1, Wayne, TN

Built 1950 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 700

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

Poor

Over: COUNTY ROAD

8.7 MILES FROM TN ROUTE 1, Wayne, TN

Built 1950 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 700

NFA A280

Poor

Over: BUTLER CREEK

2.8 MI NE JCT SR13&SR227, Wayne, TN

Built 1935 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 110

NFA 1776 (SA 9101)

Poor

Over: SECOND CREEK

3.8 MI N JCT SR69&ALA. LN, Wayne, TN

Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 115

NFA 1786 (SA 9110)

Poor

Over: FLIPPO BRANCH

2.8 MI N JCT SR128&SR228, Wayne, TN

Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 368

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.