County profile · official public datasets

Hamilton County, TX

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.8% rated Good, 59.7% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 37.8%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hamilton 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.

196th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Hamilton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hamilton County ranks #196 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Hamilton County, Texas contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.8% are rated “Good,” 59.7% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Hamilton County

Good condition

37.8%

45 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.7%

71 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

3 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#196 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.8% (45)

Fair

59.7% (71)

Poor

2.5% (3)

Hamilton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 613 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% 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 204 crossings a day against 1,090 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.7% of Hamilton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 119 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 37.8% 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 76.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IREDELL ST over JACKS HOLLOW CRK #3 HIC, built 1931, carries 468 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 613 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

18
1940s

29
1950s

25
1960s

6
1970s

1
1980s

3
1990s

10
2000s

18
2010s

3
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1940s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 75 to 84 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 17 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Hamilton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hamilton County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Duval County	121	46.3%	52.9%	0.8%	1955
Madison County	121	28.1%	68.6%	3.3%	1969
Wood County	120	40.8%	57.5%	1.7%	1972
Hamilton County (this page)	119	37.8%	59.7%	2.5%	1963
McCulloch County	118	46.6%	53.4%	0%	1958
Hall County	117	35%	62.4%	2.6%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges

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

All 119 Good 45 Fair 71 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (45)

Sort:

Hamilton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hamilton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 613 vehicle crossings a day

69.7% of Hamilton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 76.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hamilton 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 (45)

US 84

US 84

SH 22

FM 218

SH 36

SH 36

SH 36

US 281

US 281

US 281

US 281

US 281

SH 6

FM 2905

FM 1241

FM 1602

FM 1702

FM 3340

US 281

FM 218

FM 218

FM 2905

CR 210

CR 423

CR 222

CR 235

CR 133

CR 133

CR 105

CR 610

CR 301

CR 530

CR 510

CR 602

CR 617

FIRST ST

FM 2486

FM 2486

FM 1238

SH 36

FM 1602

CR 303

CR 301

CR 301

CR 103

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