County profile · official public datasets

Wilson County, TN

402 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.7% rated Good, 31.1% Fair, 8.2% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

402
Public bridges: 60.7%
Good condition: 8.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

86th
of 95 on Poor share: 8.2%
Poor-condition share: 402
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wilson County ranks #86 of 95 Tennessee counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.2%). Wilson County, Tennessee contains 402 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.7% are rated “Good,” 31.1% “Fair,” and 8.2% “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

402

Public highway bridges in Wilson County

Good condition

60.7%

244 of 402 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.1%

125 of 402 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.2%

33 of 402 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#86 of 95

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

Condition distribution

Share of 402 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.7% (244)

Fair

31.1% (125)

Poor

8.2% (33)

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 301,057 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,123 crossings a day against 9,250 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 402 of 402 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.2% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

222 of the 402 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 60.7% 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 19.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I40 348852T over CSX RAILROAD, built 1964, carries 57,395 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 33-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 301,057 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

5
1920s

13
1930s

17
1940s

19
1950s

69
1960s

76
1970s

47
1980s

43
1990s

52
2000s

44
2010s

14
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 5 years older than the Tennessee average of 1977.

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

The 5 Tennessee counties nearest Wilson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wilson County and the 5 Tennessee counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Maury County	424	22.9%	70.8%	6.4%	1975
Madison County	418	31.8%	64.1%	4.1%	1983
Wilson County (this page)	402	60.7%	31.1%	8.2%	1972
Sumner County	398	69.1%	26.4%	4.5%	1976
Gibson County	386	32.9%	62.4%	4.7%	1987
Obion County	381	43.8%	53.3%	2.9%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TN (402 bridges here).

Marshall County, KS · 402 bridges
Cuming County, NE · 402 bridges
Allegany County, NY · 402 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · 401 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TN (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 402 Good 244 Fair 125 Poor 33

All bridges (402)

Sort:

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 301,057 vehicle crossings a day

55.2% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wilson 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 (402)

NFA 1390

NFA A357

NFA A378

NFA B970

NFA A398

NFA A398

NFA A410

NFA A412

NFA A150

NFA A150

NFA A150

NFA A430

NFA A432

NFA A474

NFA A488

NFA A489

NFA A495

NFA A499

NFA A506

NFA A509

NFA A513

NFA A516

NFA A519

NFA A528

NFA A582

NFA A658

NFA A717

NFA 1461

FAU 1050 (SA 9507)

NFA A876

NFA 0A974

FAU 5364

NFA B040

NFA B265

NFA B266

NFA B481

NFA B481

NFA B481

NFA B481

NFA B483

NFA B415

NFA 2035

NFA B664

NFA B940

NFA B977

NFA C088

NFA C088

NFA C102

NFA C105

NFA 1067 (SA 9516)

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