County profile · official public datasets

Denton County, TX

991 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.8% rated Good, 41.3% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

991
Public bridges: 57.8%
Good condition: 0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

129th
of 247 on Poor share: 0.9%
Poor-condition share: 991
public highway bridges: 1994
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.

Denton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Denton County ranks #129 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Denton County, Texas contains 991 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.8% are rated “Good,” 41.3% “Fair,” and 0.9% “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

991

Public highway bridges in Denton County

Good condition

57.8%

573 of 991 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.3%

409 of 991 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

9 of 991 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#129 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 991 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.8% (573)

Fair

41.3% (409)

Poor

0.9% (9)

Denton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 127,256 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 14,140 crossings a day against 13,125 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 989 of 991 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.3% of Denton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

221 of the 991 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 57.8% 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 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 35 NBML over CLEAR CREEK, built 1958, carries 33,174 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 127,256 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

10
1940s

17
1950s

83
1960s

70
1970s

54
1980s

105
1990s

158
2000s

231
2010s

229
2020s

31

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 231 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1994, 14 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Denton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1994 against a peer-group mean of 1991 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Denton County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Williamson County	1,170	67.4%	32.2%	0.3%	1995
Collin County	1,127	67%	32.9%	0.1%	1998
Denton County (this page)	991	57.8%	41.3%	0.9%	1994
Fort Bend County	795	72.8%	24.7%	2.5%	1998
El Paso County	783	54.4%	44.8%	0.8%	1986
McLennan County	714	51.8%	46.2%	2%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (991 bridges here).

Lane County, OR · 1,010 bridges
Worcester County, MA · 1,014 bridges
Santa Clara County, CA · 964 bridges
Marion County, IN · 958 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1994 here).

St. Charles County, MO · avg 1994 · 417 bridges
Rock County, WI · avg 1994 · 304 bridges
Pitt County, NC · avg 1994 · 228 bridges
Columbus County, NC · avg 1994 · 226 bridges

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

All 991 Good 573 Fair 409 Poor 9

Good-condition bridges (573)

Sort:

Denton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Denton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 127,256 vehicle crossings a day

22.3% of Denton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Denton 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 (573)

US 377/380 WB

US 377/380

US 380

US 380

US 380

US 380

US 380 WB

US 380 EB

CHISAM ROAD

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E SB

IH 35E NB

IH 35

IH 35 NBML

IH 35 SBML

IH 35E ML

IH 35E ML

IH 35E SB

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E SBML

IH 35E NBFR

IH 35E ML & SB FR

IH-35E NB

IH-35E SB

IH-35E

POST OAK DR

IH 35E

IH 35E

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E SBFR

CORPORATE DR

IH 35E SBML

IH 35E SBFR

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E SBML

IH 35E NBFR

IH 35E SBFR

SH 121 SBFR

SH 121 NBFR

IH 35E NBFR

IH 35E NBML

IH 35E SBML

IH 35E NB OFF-RAMP

IH 35E NB CONN

IH 35E NBFR

IH 35E SBFR

SH 121 TOLL SBML

SH 121 TOLL NBML

CONNECTOR N-W

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