Total bridges
3,230
Public highway bridges in Dallas County
County profile · official public datasets
Dallas County, TX
3,230 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.5% rated Good, 56.4% Fair, 1% Poor.
- 3,230
- Public bridges
- 42.5%
- Good condition
- 1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Dallas County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.
- 132nd
- of 247 on Poor share
- 1%
- Poor-condition share
- 3,230
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Dallas County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dallas County ranks #132 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1%). Dallas County, Texas contains 3,230 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.5% are rated “Good,” 56.4% “Fair,” and 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.
Good condition
42.5%
1,374 of 3,230 rated 7-9
Fair condition
56.4%
1,823 of 3,230 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1%
33 of 3,230 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#132 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 3,230 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 42.5% (1,374)
Fair 56.4% (1,823)
Poor 1% (33)
Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,373,701 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 41,627 crossings a day against 20,944 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 3,230 of 3,230 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
41.4% of Dallas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
1,338 of the 3,230 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 42.5% 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 14.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
IH 35E over Oak Lawn Ave & Turtle Ck, built 1959, carries 194,462 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 1,373,701 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Dallas County's bridges were built
3,230 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 7
1910–1919
7 bridges
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s 62
1930–1939
62 bridges
- 1940s 58
1940–1949
58 bridges
- 1950s 232
1950–1959
232 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
570 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
619 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
411 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
321 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
433 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
425 bridges
- 2020s 78
2020–2029
78 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 619 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Texas average (1980).
How Dallas County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest Dallas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 6 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris County | 4,029 | 50.7% | 48.7% | 0.6% | 1989 |
| Dallas County (this page) | 3,230 | 42.5% | 56.4% | 1% | 1983 |
| Tarrant County | 2,617 | 58.2% | 41.4% | 0.4% | 1990 |
| Bexar County | 2,342 | 55% | 44.7% | 0.3% | 1983 |
| Travis County | 1,544 | 63.9% | 35.9% | 0.2% | 1988 |
| Williamson County | 1,170 | 67.4% | 32.2% | 0.3% | 1995 |
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 Dallas 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 Dallas County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (3,230 bridges here).
- Los Angeles County, CA · 3,547 bridges
- Maricopa County, AZ · 2,847 bridges
- Cook County, IL · 1,721 bridges
- San Diego County, CA · 1,632 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1983 here).
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
- Bernalillo County, NM · avg 1983 · 496 bridges
- Black Hawk County, IA · avg 1983 · 489 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (1,823)
BONNIE VIEW RD SB
FairOver: FIVE MILE CREEK
0.90 MI S OF LP 12, Dallas, TX
Built 1970 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 10,356
UNIVERSITY BLVD
FairOver: DALLAS NORTH TOLLWAY
0.3 MI W OF DOUGLAS BLVD, Dallas, TX
Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 11,390
DALLAS N. TOLLWAY
FairOver: LEMMON AVE
1.8 MILES NORTH OF IH 35E, Dallas, TX
Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 78,334
BORDEAUX AVE
FairOver: NORTH DALLAS TOLLWAY
0.8 MI S OF MOCKINGBIRD, Dallas, TX
Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,802
MOCKINGBIRD LANE
FairOver: DALLAS N TOLLWAY
0.7 MI S OF UNIV BLVD, Dallas, TX
Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 29,929
FOREST LANE
FairOver: AUDELIA BRANCH
350 E. OF AUDELIA RD., Dallas, TX
Built 1988 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 16,600
GOLF LAKES TRAIL
FairOver: JENKINS BRANCH
0.01 MI S OF WALNUT HILL, Dallas, TX
Built 1979 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,500
GREENTREE LN
FairOver: HIKE & BIKE TRAIL
0.03 MI E OF SANTA BARB, Dallas, TX
Built 1964 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,720
KIEST BLVD WB
FairOver: FIVE MILE CREEK
0.75 MI E OF LOOP 12, Dallas, TX
Built 1962 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 6,000
MOCKINGBIRD LANE
FairOver: WHITE ROCK LAKE
0.3 MI W OF BUCKNER BLVD, Dallas, TX
Built 1965 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 20,202
WESTGROVE DRIVE
FairOver: WHITE ROCK CREEK
0.5 MI W OF PRESTON RD, Dallas, TX
Built 1974 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,712
YOUNGBLOOD RD
FairOver: FIVE MILE CREEK TRIB
0.40 MI E OF SH 310, Dallas, TX
Built 1982 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,043
FERRIS RD
FairOver: TEN MILE CREEK
0.1 MI S OF LAVENDER RD, Dallas, TX
Built 1994 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 971
CENTERVILLE RD
FairOver: DUCK CREEK
1.4 MI NE OF IH 635, Dallas, TX
Built 1971 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 37,251
BELT LINE RD NB
FairOver: HACKBERRY CREEK
0.2 MI S OF JCT SH 114, Dallas, TX
Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 21,356
BELT LINE RD SB
FairOver: HACKBERRY CREEK
0.2 MI S OF JCT SH 114, Dallas, TX
Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 21,356
NEWBERRY DR
FairOver: COTTONWOOD CREEK
0.4 MI S OF ARAPHO RD, Dallas, TX
Built 1965 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,310
LONE STAR PKWY WB
FairOver: DRAINAGE CHANNEL
0.10 MI E OF BELT LINE RD, Dallas, TX
Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 750
LONE STAR PKWY EB
FairOver: DRAINAGE CHANNEL
0.10 MI E OF BELT LINE RD, Dallas, TX
Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 750
COLLINS RD
FairOver: DUCK CREEK
0.5 MI N OF TOWN EAST, Dallas, TX
Built 1995 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,500
Santa Fe Trail NB
FairOver: Ten Mile Creek
0.15 Mi N of Danieldale, Dallas, TX
Built 1986 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,000
Santa Fe Trail SB
FairOver: Ten Mile Creek
0.15 Mi N of DanielDale R, Dallas, TX
Built 1986 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,000
ARROWDELL RD
FairOver: HICKORY CREEK
0.3 MI S OF RYLIE CREST, Dallas, TX
Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,100
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.