County profile · official public datasets

Galveston County, TX

344 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.6% rated Good, 39.5% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

344
Public bridges: 57.6%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Galveston 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.

209th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 344
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Galveston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Galveston County ranks #209 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Galveston County, Texas contains 344 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.6% are rated “Good,” 39.5% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

344

Public highway bridges in Galveston County

Good condition

57.6%

198 of 344 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.5%

136 of 344 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

10 of 344 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#209 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 344 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.6% (198)

Fair

39.5% (136)

Poor

2.9% (10)

Galveston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 104,648 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,465 crossings a day against 14,549 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 344 of 344 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

23.3% of Galveston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 344 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 57.6% 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 32.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 45 NB over BNSF RR, built 1939, carries 33,950 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 104,648 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

15
1940s

12
1950s

6
1960s

27
1970s

35
1980s

85
1990s

42
2000s

73
2010s

33
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 85 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 7 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Galveston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Galveston County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cameron County	355	62%	37.5%	0.6%	1992
Parker County	350	49.7%	49.1%	1.1%	1985
Navarro County	345	40.6%	58.3%	1.2%	1979
Victoria County	344	70.1%	27.6%	2.3%	1979
Galveston County (this page)	344	57.6%	39.5%	2.9%	1987
Bowie County	331	46.5%	52.9%	0.6%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (344 bridges here).

Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges
DuPage County, IL · 344 bridges
Kankakee County, IL · 344 bridges
Cumberland County, ME · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Dane County, WI · avg 1987 · 590 bridges

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

All 344 Good 198 Fair 136 Poor 10

All bridges (344)

Sort:

Galveston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Galveston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 104,648 vehicle crossings a day

23.3% of Galveston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Galveston 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

All bridges (344)

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

IH 45

FM 1764

FM 1764

FM 2004

FM 646

FM 270

BLUEWATER HWY

CLEAR LAKE RD

SH87 FERRY S SLP 1

IH 45 SB

ALGOA-FRIENDSWOOD

RYMAL RD.

LAWRENCE RD

BROADWAY AVE

HIGHLAND RD

Isla Del Sol Drive

SEAWOLF PKWY

STEWART RD

BAY ST

1ST AVE S

6TH ST NORTH

9TH ST NORTH

19TH AVE

25th Avenue N.

TIKI DR

28TH ST

SHOUSE RD.

SHOUSE RD.

League City Pkwy

LOUISIANA ST

Walker Street

Summer Place

STONEBRIDGE DR

TEXAS AVE

CEMETERY RD

DEATS RD

AVENUE L

PINEGROVE DRIVE

RODEO BEND RD

SUNSET DR

2ND ST

Related