County profile · official public datasets

Weakley County, TN

351 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.3% rated Good, 55.6% Fair, 1.1% Poor.

351
Public bridges: 43.3%
Good condition: 1.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Weakley County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 7%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.1%
Poor-condition share: 351
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.

Weakley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Weakley County ranks #7 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.1%). Weakley County, Tennessee contains 351 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.3% are rated “Good,” 55.6% “Fair,” and 1.1% “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

351

Public highway bridges in Weakley County

Good condition

43.3%

152 of 351 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.6%

195 of 351 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.1%

4 of 351 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 351 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.3% (152)

Fair

55.6% (195)

Poor

1.1% (4)

Weakley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,339 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 585 crossings a day against 1,345 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 351 of 351 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

18.2% of Weakley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

64 of the 351 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 43.3% 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 48.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NFA A502 (SA 9215) over BRANCH, built 1960, carries 1,130 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,339 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

5
1940s

1
1950s

22
1960s

23
1970s

15
1980s

101
1990s

94
2000s

71
2010s

5
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 101 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.8% 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.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Weakley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Weakley County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Obion County	381	43.8%	53.3%	2.9%	1983
Sullivan County	368	42.1%	55.2%	2.7%	1973
Weakley County (this page)	351	43.3%	55.6%	1.1%	1987
Fayette County	336	23.8%	68.8%	7.4%	1984
Hickman County	331	38.7%	56.2%	5.1%	1979
Giles County	321	56.1%	41.7%	2.2%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (351 bridges here).

Peoria County, IL · 352 bridges
Henrico County, VA · 352 bridges
Guernsey County, OH · 350 bridges
Parker County, TX · 350 bridges

Similar average build year

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

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 351 Good 152 Fair 195 Poor 4

All bridges (351)

Sort:

Weakley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Weakley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,339 vehicle crossings a day

18.2% of Weakley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Weakley 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

All bridges (351)

NFA A371

NFA A395

NFA A461

NFA A477

NFA A539

NFA A566

NFA A612

NFA 1518 (SA 9216)

NFA A631

NFA A636

NFA A636

NFA A667

FAS 445

NFA 815 (SA 9220)

NFA 815 (SA 9220)

FAS 190

FAS 190

FAS 190

FAS 190

FAS 190

NFA 1605 (SA 9222)

NFA 855 (SA 9215)

NFA 864 (SA 9225)

NFA 864 (SA 9225)

NFA 864 (SA 9225)

FAP 22

FAP 22

FAP 22

FAP 22

FAP 22 (RT LN)

FAP 22 (RT. LN.)

FAP 22 (LT LN)

FAP 431

FAP 22

NFA A582

NFA 3031

FAP 22

FAP 22

SR 22

NFA A008

FAP 22

NFA A786

FAU 5732

FAP 43

FAP 43

FAP 43

FAP 43

FAP 43

FAS 372

FAP 43

Related