County profile · official public datasets

Fort Bend County, TX

795 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 72.8% rated Good, 24.7% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

795
Public bridges
72.8%
Good condition
2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fort Bend 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.

195th
of 247 on Poor share
2.5%
Poor-condition share
795
public highway bridges
1998
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.

Fort Bend County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fort Bend County ranks #195 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Fort Bend County, Texas contains 795 public highway bridges. Roughly 72.8% are rated “Good,” 24.7% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

795

Public highway bridges in Fort Bend County

Good condition

72.8%

579 of 795 rated 7-9

Fair condition

24.7%

196 of 795 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

20 of 795 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#195 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 795 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
72.8% (579)
Fair
24.7% (196)
Poor
2.5% (20)

Fort Bend County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,338 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,117 crossings a day against 11,731 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 794 of 795 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

11.2% of Fort Bend County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 795 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 72.8% 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 84.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 99 over BRAZOS RIVER, built 1994, carries 18,892 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 22,338 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Fort Bend County's bridges were built

795 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 197 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1998, 18 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

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

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Fort Bend County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1998 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 11 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fort Bend County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Fort Bend County (this page) 795 2.5%
El Paso County 783 0.8%
McLennan County 714 2%
Montgomery County 710 0.7%
Ellis County 691 1.6%
Bell County 660 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 Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (795 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1998 here).

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

All 795 Good 579 Fair 196 Poor 20

Good-condition bridges (579)

IH 69/US 59 ML

Good

Over: Ditch H

1.35 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 94,650

IH 69 / US 59 SBFR

Good

Over: Ditch H

1.35 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 24,200

IH 69 / US 59 NBFR

Good

Over: Ditch H

1.35 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 24,280

IH 69 / US 59 ML

Good

Over: Brazos River

3.5 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 27,291

IH 69 / US 59 ML

Good

Over: Channel A

4.103 MI S OF US 90A, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 27,291

IH 69 / US 59 NBFR

Good

Over: Brazos River

3.50 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 7,000

IH 69 / US 59 NBFR

Good

Over: Channel A

4.103 MI S OF US 90A, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 15,100

IH 69 / US 59 SBFR

Good

Over: Brazos River

3.3 MI SW OF SH 6, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,001

IH 69 / US 59 SBFR

Good

Over: Channel A

4.103 MI S OF US 90A, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2007 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 15,100

US 59 NB

Good

Over: FM 2919

13.6 Mi S of SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 12,841

US 59 SB

Good

Over: FM 2919

13.6 Mi S of SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 12,186

IH 69/US 59

Good

Over: FM 360

4.8 Mi SW of SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2011 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 11,558

IH 69/US 59 SB

Good

Over: FM 360

4.8 Mi. SW of SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2011 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 12,602

IH 69/US 59 NB

Good

Over: Isleib Rd

7.3 Mi S of SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 13,258

SH 36

Good

Over: Duval Ditch

2.35 MI E OF FM 1489, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,542

FM 1463

Good

Over: Buffalo Bayou

0.20 MI SW OF IH 10, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1972 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 23,500

SH 6

Good

Over: Flat Bank Creek

1.5 MI SE OF FM 1092, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1999 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 49,398

IH 10 WBFR

Good

Over: Cane Br Buffalo Bayou

0.35 MI E OF FM 1463, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1967 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 14,026

FOREST VIEW DR

Good

Over: BRAZOS RIVER TRIBUTARY

0.10 MI SW OF RIVER FORST, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 30

RYCADE SCHOOL RD

Good

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

0.40 MI N OF BIG ISLAND, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1997 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 60

HAND RD

Good

Over: BIG CREEK TRIBUTARY

0.50 MI SE OF SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 90

KAMAS RD

Good

Over: FOSS CREEK

0.00 MI SE OF SH 36, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 100

HERMAN SULAK RD

Good

Over: TURKEY CREEK

0.70 MI NW OF US 90A, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 115

PINK-TAYLOR RUN RD

Good

Over: BROOKS BRANCH

0.40 MI NE OF FM 2919, Fort Bend, TX

Built 1999 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 90

ZUNKER RD

Good

Over: COTTONWOOD CREEK

0.80 MI NE OF BLASE RD, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 537

WERNECKE RD

Good

Over: SNAKE CREEK TRIBUTARY

0.65 MI SW OF FM 360, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 250

WERNECKE RD

Good

Over: SNAKE CREEK

1.00 MI SW OF FM 360, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2003 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 110

MODENA SCHOOL RD

Good

Over: SNAKE CREEK

1.55 MI SW OF FM 360, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2001 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 60

Ricefield Rd

Good

Over: Dry Creek

0.65 MI SE OF FM 2977, Fort Bend, TX

Built 2019 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 130

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

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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.