County profile · official public datasets

Grimes County, TX

245 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.2% rated Good, 57.6% Fair, 1.2% Poor.

245
Public bridges: 41.2%
Good condition: 1.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Grimes County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

146th
of 247 on Poor share: 1.2%
Poor-condition share: 245
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Grimes County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Grimes County ranks #146 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.2%). Grimes County, Texas contains 245 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.2% are rated “Good,” 57.6% “Fair,” and 1.2% “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

245

Public highway bridges in Grimes County

Good condition

41.2%

101 of 245 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.6%

141 of 245 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.2%

3 of 245 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#146 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 245 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.2% (101)

Fair

57.6% (141)

Poor

1.2% (3)

Grimes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,721 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,240 crossings a day against 4,397 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 245 of 245 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.6% of Grimes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

92 of the 245 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 41.2% 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 94.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 30 over GIBBONS CREEK, built 1951, carries 6,351 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,721 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

22
1930s

4
1940s

8
1950s

26
1960s

14
1970s

25
1980s

24
1990s

37
2000s

21
2010s

34
2020s

30

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Grimes County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Grimes County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Colorado County	252	48.8%	48.8%	2.4%	1971
Hopkins County	250	46.4%	51.2%	2.4%	1978
Van Zandt County	249	38.6%	58.6%	2.8%	1977
Grimes County (this page)	245	41.2%	57.6%	1.2%	1984
Lubbock County	242	45.9%	53.7%	0.4%	1988
Nacogdoches County	237	21.1%	73.4%	5.5%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (245 bridges here).

Allegany County, MD · 245 bridges
Henderson County, NC · 245 bridges
Rowan County, NC · 245 bridges
Highland County, OH · 245 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Steuben County, NY · avg 1984 · 627 bridges

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

All 245 Good 101 Fair 141 Poor 3

All bridges (245)

Sort:

Grimes County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Grimes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,721 vehicle crossings a day

37.6% of Grimes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Grimes 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 (245)

SH 105

FM 39

FM 3090

FM 3090

FM 149

FM 149

FM 1774

FM 1774

SP 234

FM 1696

FM 2445

FM 2445

FM 2

FM 2819

FM 2562

SH 6

SH 6

SH 6

OAK DR

CR 188

5TH ST

CR 323

SH 6 NB

CR 162

CR 102

SH 6 SB

SH 30

SH 30

SH 90

SH 105

SH 249

FM 244

FM 244

FM 3090

FM 3090

FM 3090

FM 3090

FM 3090

FM 1486

FM 2620

SH 249 NB (RAMP M)

SH 249 SB (RAMP N)

SH 249 NB

SH 249 SB

SH 249

SH 249

SH 249

SH 249

SH 249 ML

SH 249

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