County profile · official public datasets

Gonzales County, TX

284 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.4% rated Good, 51.8% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

284
Public bridges: 45.4%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

206th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 284
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Gonzales County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gonzales County ranks #206 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Gonzales County, Texas contains 284 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.4% are rated “Good,” 51.8% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

284

Public highway bridges in Gonzales County

Good condition

45.4%

129 of 284 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.8%

147 of 284 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

8 of 284 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#206 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 284 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.4% (129)

Fair

51.8% (147)

Poor

2.8% (8)

Gonzales County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,214 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,402 crossings a day against 3,743 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 284 of 284 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.1% of Gonzales County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

199 of the 284 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 45.4% 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 49.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 90A over PEACH CREEK WEST RELIEF, built 1938, carries 5,510 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,214 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

32
1940s

33
1950s

42
1960s

29
1970s

58
1980s

8
1990s

4
2000s

33
2010s

20
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 11 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Gonzales County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gonzales County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Guadalupe County	296	58.8%	41.2%	0%	1977
Gonzales County (this page)	284	45.4%	51.8%	2.8%	1969
Cooke County	283	48.1%	49.1%	2.8%	1983
Bastrop County	282	66.3%	33.3%	0.4%	1988
Limestone County	280	32.1%	63.9%	3.9%	1975
Rusk County	280	24.6%	75%	0.4%	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 Gonzales 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 Gonzales County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (284 bridges here).

Logan County, OK · 284 bridges
Tillman County, OK · 284 bridges
Cambria County, PA · 284 bridges
Susquehanna County, PA · 284 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 284 Good 129 Fair 147 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (147)

Sort:

Gonzales County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gonzales County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,214 vehicle crossings a day

70.1% of Gonzales County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 49.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gonzales 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

Fair-condition bridges (147)

CO RD 353

CO RD 422

IH 10 EB

SH 97

FM 1116

CR 424

FM 2091

US 90A

US 90A

US 90A

SH 97

SH 97

SH 97

US 90

US 90

US 183

US 183

US 183

US 183

US 183

FM 1117

SH 80

SH 80

SH 97

SH 80

US 90A

US 90A

SP 146

IH 10

IH 10

IH 10

IH 10 WB

IH 10 WB OFF-RP

IH 10 SFR

SH 304

SH 304

SH 304

SH 304

SH 304

FM 1116

FM 1116

FM 1116

FM 1116

FM 1116

FM 1116

FM 108

FM 108

FM 108

FM 108

FM 443

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