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.

1920s

5
1930s

14
1940s

11
1950s

7
1960s

24
1970s

43
1980s

108
1990s

156
2000s

194
2010s

197
2020s

36

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.

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	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fort Bend County (this page)	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
Montgomery County	710	69.2%	30.1%	0.7%	1998
Ellis County	691	53.3%	45.2%	1.6%	1987
Bell County	660	54.7%	45%	0.3%	1984

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).

Lancaster County, PA · 801 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · 783 bridges
Hamilton County, OH · 783 bridges
Johnson County, KS · 781 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Orange County, FL · avg 1998 · 885 bridges
Pipestone County, MN · avg 1998 · 185 bridges
Hyde County, NC · avg 1998 · 75 bridges
Hertford County, NC · avg 1998 · 58 bridges

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)

Sort:

Fort Bend County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 84.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fort Bend 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 (579)

IH 69 / US 59 NB

IH 69 NB Frtg Rd.

IH 69 SB ML

IH 69 NB ML

IH 69 SB FRTG RD

IH 69 SB ML

IH 69 NB ML

IH 69 NB FRTG RD

IH 69 SB ML

IH 69 NB ML

Spur 10

US 59 SBFR

US 59 EFR

US 59 EFR

US 59 EFR

US 59 NBFR

US 59 SB

US 59 SBFR

US 59 SBFR

IH 69/US 59 NB

IH 69/US 59 SB

I 69 / US 59 NB FR

US 59 SB ML

US 59 NB

US 59 SB ML

US 59

US 59 Access Rd

US 59 SBFR (BR1)

Doris Rd

US 59 SBFR BR2

SL 541

FM 521

SH 36

SP 10

SP 10

SP 10

SPUR 10 NB

SPUR 10 SB

SH 36

SH 36

FM 723

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6 NB On-Rp B

SH 6 SB Off-Rp C

SH 6

SH 6

IH 10 WB FRTG RD

Pin Oak Rd

Cane Island Parkwy

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