County profile · official public datasets

Cameron County, TX

355 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 62% rated Good, 37.5% Fair, 0.6% Poor.

355
Public bridges: 62%
Good condition: 0.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cameron 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 42%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.6%
Poor-condition share: 355
public highway bridges: 1992
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.

Cameron County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cameron County ranks #104 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.6%). Cameron County, Texas contains 355 public highway bridges. Roughly 62% are rated “Good,” 37.5% “Fair,” and 0.6% “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

355

Public highway bridges in Cameron County

Good condition

62%

220 of 355 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.5%

133 of 355 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.6%

2 of 355 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#104 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 355 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

62% (220)

Fair

37.5% (133)

Poor

0.6% (2)

Cameron County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,330 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,165 crossings a day against 12,768 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 355 of 355 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

23.7% of Cameron County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 355 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 62% 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 94% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MINNESOTA AVE over DRAINAGE DITCH, built 1960, carries 7,830 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,330 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

9
1950s

13
1960s

26
1970s

44
1980s

22
1990s

60
2000s

139
2010s

37
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 139 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 39.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 12 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

How Cameron County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Texas counties nearest Cameron County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cameron County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brazos County	370	62.4%	37.6%	0%	1989
Cameron County (this page)	355	62%	37.5%	0.6%	1992
Parker County	350	49.7%	49.1%	1.1%	1985
Navarro County	345	40.6%	58.3%	1.2%	1979
Galveston County	344	57.6%	39.5%	2.9%	1987
Victoria County	344	70.1%	27.6%	2.3%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (355 bridges here).

Hendricks County, IN · 355 bridges
Burlington County, NJ · 356 bridges
Richland County, OH · 356 bridges
Ross County, OH · 356 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1992 here).

Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
Wake County, NC · avg 1992 · 760 bridges
Benton County, AR · avg 1992 · 410 bridges
Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges

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

All 355 Good 220 Fair 133 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (220)

Sort:

Cameron County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cameron County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,330 vehicle crossings a day

23.7% of Cameron County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cameron County compares with Texas'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 (220)

SH 550 SB FRTG RD

SH 550 NB FRTG RD

SH 550

SH 550 SB

SH 550

SEARCY ROAD

CROSSETT ROAD

BRIGGS COLEMAN RD

CEMETERY RD

OLD PORT ISABEL RD

MARYDALE ROAD

CR 530

TAUBERT RD

FERNANDO EAST RD

Line 20 Road

CLARK RD

MILE 8 N RD

ORANGE GROVE RD

LOS INDIOS INTL BR

CANTU RD

NELSON RD

IOWA GARDENS ROAD

FIELD RD (CR 395)

San Jose Ranch Rd.

MARGARITO GONZALEZ

OLD PT ISABEL RD

ACACIA LAKE DRIVE

AUSTIN ROAD

Veterans Inter(NB)

EAST AVE

ESPERANZA RD

IMPALA DR

SB LN INTER BR

NB LN INTER BR

ANACUA STREET

N SAN MARCELO BLVD

DIXIELAND RD

RUSSELL LN

SHERER RD

FM 2925

BUS 77 SB

FM 3068

MANZANO ST

PALM BOULEVARD

CALLE MILPA VERDE

SH 345

US 77 SB

US 77 NB

US 77 SB

US 77 NB

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