County profile · official public datasets

Chambers County, TX

152 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.4% rated Good, 50.7% Fair, 2% Poor.

152
Public bridges: 47.4%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

180th
of 247 on Poor share: 2%
Poor-condition share: 152
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Chambers County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chambers County ranks #180 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Chambers County, Texas contains 152 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.4% are rated “Good,” 50.7% “Fair,” and 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

152

Public highway bridges in Chambers County

Good condition

47.4%

72 of 152 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.7%

77 of 152 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3 of 152 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#180 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 152 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.4% (72)

Fair

50.7% (77)

Poor

2% (3)

Chambers County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,165 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 388 crossings a day against 12,734 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 152 of 152 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.8% of Chambers County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

65 of the 152 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 47.4% 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 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BAILEY RD over WHITES BAYOU (BARROW SL), built 1976, carries 454 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,165 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

5
1950s

28
1960s

18
1970s

13
1980s

6
1990s

27
2000s

27
2010s

4
2020s

17

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Chambers County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1962 is 20 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chambers County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Newton County	157	40.8%	55.4%	3.8%	1967
Callahan County	153	46.4%	53.6%	0%	1959
Chambers County (this page)	152	47.4%	50.7%	2%	1982
Wilbarger County	151	47%	50.3%	2.6%	1970
Coleman County	150	42%	54.7%	3.3%	1951
Kimble County	149	53.7%	46.3%	0%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (152 bridges here).

Logan County, AR · 152 bridges
Kosciusko County, IN · 152 bridges
Muhlenberg County, KY · 152 bridges
Clinton County, MO · 152 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 152 Good 72 Fair 77 Poor 3

All bridges (152)

Sort:

Chambers County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chambers County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,165 vehicle crossings a day

42.8% of Chambers County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chambers 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

All bridges (152)

FRANZEN RD

SH 124

IH 10 ML

IH 10 ML

IH 10

FM 1405

FM 1405

FM 1985

SH 65

SH 65

SH 65

SH 146

FM 1410

BUCCANEER RD

N BAYER RD

W BAY RD

IH 10 NFR

IH 10 SFR

IH 10 S FR

IH 10 NFR

FM 1941

FM 1985

IH 10 SFR

FM 2354

SH 65

FM 563

IH 10 N FR

IH 10 S FR

IH 10 NFR

FM 563

FM 1405

FM 1410

FM 1985

FM 562

FM 1941

FM 1941

FM 1941

IH 10 SFR

IH 10 NFR

FM 1663

SH 124

IH 10

IH 10 WB

IH 10 ML

IH 10 EB FR

IH 10

IH 10

IH 10

IH 10 EB ENTR RAMP

JENKINS RD

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