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.

Total bridges

3,230

Public highway bridges in Dallas County

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

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dallas County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Harris County 4,029 0.6%
Dallas County (this page) 3,230 1%
Tarrant County 2,617 0.4%
Bexar County 2,342 0.3%
Travis County 1,544 0.2%
Williamson County 1,170 0.3%

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).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1983 here).

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

All 3,230 Good 1,374 Fair 1,823 Poor 33

Good-condition bridges (1,374)

IH 35E SBFR

Good

Over: Woody Branch

2.8 Mi N of IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 1965 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,191

IH 35E NB

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK & BEAR CRK RD

5.6 MI S OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 47,177

IH 35E SB

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK & BEAR CRK RD

5.6 MI S OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 47,177

IH 35E SB

Good

Over: PARKERVILLE RD

4.6 MI S OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 47,177

IH 35E NB

Good

Over: PARKERVILLE RD

4.6 MI S OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 2010 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 47,177

RAMP E SB HAMPTON

Good

Over: IH 30

0.05 MI W OF HAMPTON RD., Dallas, TX

Built 2005 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 36,000

BEVERLY DRIVE

Good

Over: NORTH DALLAS TOLLWAY

0.3 MI S OF MOCKINGBIRD, Dallas, TX

Built 1966 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 7,662

MCCALLUM BLVD

Good

Over: MCKAMY BRANCH

0.4 MI E OF PRESTON RD, Dallas, TX

Built 1974 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,434

FERRIS RD

Good

Over: TEN MILE CREEK TRIBUTARY

0.1 MI S OF VAN RD, Dallas, TX

Built 1994 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 971

PARKINSON RD

Good

Over: TEN MILE CREEK

1.0 MI S OF MALLOY BRG RD, Dallas, TX

Built 1991 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 820

DAVIS RD

Good

Over: PARSONS SLOUGH

0.70 MI SW OF KAUFMAN CO, Dallas, TX

Built 1994 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 320

LAWSON RD EB

Good

Over: S MESQUITE CREEK TRIB

0.35 MI NE OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 1991 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 300

LAWSON RD WB

Good

Over: S MESQUITE CREEK TRIB

0.35 MI NE OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 1991 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 300

E VALLEY RANCH PKY

Good

Over: SUNDANCE CANAL

0.6 MI N OF RANCHVIEW DR, Dallas, TX

Built 1995 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 8,168

BARDIN RD

Good

Over: TRIB MOUNTAIN CREEK

0.05 Mi N of E Polo Rd, Dallas, TX

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,266

E POLO RD

Good

Over: TRIB MOUNTAIN CREEK

0.2 MI E of S Carrier Pkw, Dallas, TX

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 4,015

SACHSE RD

Good

Over: LONG BRANCH

0.5 MI E OF MILES RD, Dallas, TX

Built 2004 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,500

SACHSE RD

Good

Over: MUDDY CREEK

0.50 MI SW OF COLLIN C/L, Dallas, TX

Built 1993 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,226

EAGLE DR

Good

Over: TRIB HEATH CREEK

0.3 MI W of N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX

Built 1995 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,787

PLANTATION DR

Good

Over: TRIB OF TEN MILE CREEK

0.1 MI E OF MEADOWS PK, Dallas, TX

Built 1985 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 690

COLLINS RD

Good

Over: DUCK CREEK RELIEF

2.3 MI N OF US 80, Dallas, TX

Built 1995 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,500

RYLIE-CREST DR

Good

Over: HICKORY CREEK TRIBUTARY

0.7 MI E OF IH 635, Dallas, TX

Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,100

US 175 EBML

Good

Over: HICKORY CREEK

1.30 MI SE OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 1972 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 29,900

US 175 WB

Good

Over: HICKORY CREEK

1.30 MI SE OF IH 20, Dallas, TX

Built 1972 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 29,900

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.