Total bridges
48
Public highway bridges in Hale County
County profile · official public datasets
Hale County, TX
48 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.7% rated Good, 58.3% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 48
- Public bridges
- 41.7%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Hale County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- Top 22%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 0%
- Poor-condition share
- 48
- public highway bridges
- 1976
- 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.
Hale County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hale County ranks #55 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Hale County, Texas contains 48 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.7% are rated “Good,” 58.3% “Fair,” and 0% “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.
Good condition
41.7%
20 of 48 rated 7-9
Fair condition
58.3%
28 of 48 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 48 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#55 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 48 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.7% (20)
Fair 58.3% (28)
Poor 0% (0)
37.5% of Hale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
18 of the 48 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 41.7% 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.
When Hale County's bridges were built
48 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 8
1960–1969
8 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
26 bridges
- 1990s 1
1990–1999
1 bridges
- 2010s 2
2010–2019
2 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 54.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Texas average (1980).
How Hale County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest Hale County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1961 is 15 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garza County | 51 | 27.5% | 72.5% | 0% | 1962 |
| Hutchinson County | 50 | 28% | 72% | 0% | 1968 |
| Irion County | 50 | 44% | 54% | 2% | 1944 |
| Oldham County | 50 | 42% | 58% | 0% | 1963 |
| Stonewall County | 50 | 38% | 62% | 0% | 1970 |
| Hale County (this page) | 48 | 41.7% | 58.3% | 0% | 1976 |
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 Hale 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 Hale County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (48 bridges here).
- Wakulla County, FL · 48 bridges
- Evans County, GA · 48 bridges
- Owyhee County, ID · 48 bridges
- Carter County, MO · 48 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1976 here).
- Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
- Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
- Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
- Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (20)
SH 194
GoodOver: RUNNING WATER DRAW
0.1 MI S OF US 70, Hale, TX
Built 1991 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,673
FM 54
GoodOver: Blackwater Draw
6.9 MI W OF IH 27, Hale, TX
Built 1984 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 507
FM 179
GoodOver: Blackwater Draw
1.0 Mi N of FM 54, Hale, TX
Built 1948 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 408
FM 2528
GoodOver: Blackwater Draw
0.8 Mi S of FM 54, Hale, TX
Built 1973 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 169
IH 27 SB
GoodOver: SH 194 & BN RR
1.90 Mi N of US 70, Hale, TX
Built 1967 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 5,693
FM 788
GoodOver: IH 27 & BNSF RR
2.15 MI N OF FM 3183, Hale, TX
Built 1984 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 250
CR 155 & CR R
GoodOver: IH 27 & BNSF RR
3.3 Mi N of FM 1914, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100
FM 2337
GoodOver: IH 27 & BNSF RR
5.3 Mi S of US 70, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 230
IH 27 SB
GoodOver: FM 3466
0.80 MI S of US 70, Hale, TX
Built 2015 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,276
IH 27 NB
GoodOver: FM 3466
0.80 MI S of US 70, Hale, TX
Built 2013 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 6,682
CO RD 275
GoodOver: IH 27
3.0 Mi N of FM 54, Hale, TX
Built 1981 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 700
FM 37 EAST
GoodOver: IH 27
7.02 Mi N of FM 54, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 120
FM 37 WEST
GoodOver: IH 27
8.05 Mi N of FM 54, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 290
IH 27 NB
GoodOver: FM 1424
1.40 Mi S of FM 1914, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 7,686
CR Z
GoodOver: RUNNING WATER DRAW
1.2 MI S of US 70, Hale, TX
Built 2020 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 30
FM 2337
GoodOver: Callahan Draw
0.2 Mi S of IH 27, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 747
IH 27 NB
GoodOver: US 70
1.90 MI S OF SH 194, Hale, TX
Built 1967 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 6,682
IH 27 SB
GoodOver: US 70
1.90 MI S OF SH 194, Hale, TX
Built 1967 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 3,276
IH 27 WFR
GoodOver: Callahan Draw
5.8 Mi N of FM 1914, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 200
IH 27 E FR
GoodOver: Callahan Draw
5.8 Mi N of FM 1914, Hale, TX
Built 1982 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 130
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.