County profile · official public datasets

White County, TN

69 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.8% rated Good, 59.4% Fair, 5.8% Poor.

69
Public bridges: 34.8%
Good condition: 5.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 95 on Poor share: 5.8%
Poor-condition share: 69
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

White County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, White County ranks #72 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.8%). White County, Tennessee contains 69 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.8% are rated “Good,” 59.4% “Fair,” and 5.8% “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

Public highway bridges in White County

Good condition

34.8%

24 of 69 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.4%

41 of 69 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.8%

4 of 69 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 69 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.8% (24)

Fair

59.4% (41)

Poor

5.8% (4)

White County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,846 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,712 crossings a day against 1,105 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 69 of 69 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.2% of White County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

25 of the 69 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 34.8% 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 79.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 111 over SR 1 (US 70S) & NFA 2727, built 1971, carries 11,754 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 14,846 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

2
1950s

7
1960s

8
1970s

12
1980s

24
1990s

9
2000s

2
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Tennessee average (1977).

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest White County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 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 White County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Meigs County	76	53.9%	42.1%	3.9%	1975
Moore County	69	53.6%	46.4%	0%	1974
White County (this page)	69	34.8%	59.4%	5.8%	1979
Sequatchie County	67	47.8%	52.2%	0%	1980
Clay County	64	64.1%	29.7%	6.3%	1984
Hancock County	61	47.5%	50.8%	1.6%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (69 bridges here).

Irwin County, GA · 69 bridges
Edwards County, KS · 69 bridges
Barry County, MI · 69 bridges
Maries County, MO · 69 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 69 Good 24 Fair 41 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (24)

Sort:

White County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

White County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,846 vehicle crossings a day

36.2% of White County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How White 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 (24)

NFA A179

NFA A966

NFA 1163 (SA 9316)

NFA 2190

NFA A710

NFA A238

NFA 2214 (SA 9310)

NFA 2214 (SA 9310)

NFA 2214

NFA A007

NFA A043

NFA A082

NFA A136

NFA A178

NFA A279

NFA A473

NFA 1163 (SA 9316)

NFA 1163 (SA 9316)

NFA 1159 (SA 9318)

NFA 1140 (SA 9302)

FAP 111

FAS 84

FAP 111

NFA A071

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