County profile · official public datasets

Harris County, TX

4,029 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.7% rated Good, 48.7% Fair, 0.6% Poor.

4,029
Public bridges
50.7%
Good condition
0.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Harris County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state
0.6%
Poor-condition share
4,029
public highway bridges
1989
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.

Harris County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Harris County ranks #106 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.6%). Harris County, Texas contains 4,029 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.7% are rated “Good,” 48.7% “Fair,” and 0.6% “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

4,029

Public highway bridges in Harris County

Good condition

50.7%

2,042 of 4,029 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.7%

1,963 of 4,029 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.6%

24 of 4,029 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#106 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 4,029 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
50.7% (2,042)
Fair
48.7% (1,963)
Poor
0.6% (24)

Harris County's Poor-condition bridges carry 472,127 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 19,672 crossings a day against 26,874 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 4,029 of 4,029 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.1% of Harris County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

892 of the 4,029 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 50.7% 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.

One structure carries 24.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 45 NB over CROSSTIMBERS ST, built 1960, carries 116,204 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 472,127 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Harris County's bridges were built

4,029 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 816 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 9 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Harris County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Harris County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Harris County (this page) 4,029 0.6%
Dallas County 3,230 1%
Tarrant County 2,617 0.4%
Bexar County 2,342 0.3%
Travis County 1,544 0.2%
Williamson County 1,170 0.3%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (4,029 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1989 here).

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

All 4,029 Good 2,042 Fair 1,963 Poor 24

Poor-condition bridges (24)

BUNTE RD

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.16 MI E OF LOCKWOOD DR, Harris, TX

Built 1991 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 2,000

Laura Koppe Rd

Poor

Over: Ditch

9400 Laura Koppe, Harris, TX

Built 1997 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 1,235

LEE RD

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.40 MI S OF GREENS RD, Harris, TX

Built 1954 Load: 6.3 t ADT: 8,209

ENID ST

Poor

Over: LITTLE WHITE OAK BAYOU

0.12 MI W OF IH45, Harris, TX

Built 1943 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 1,500

CAROLWOOD

Poor

Over: KENNEDY GULLY

0.05 MI W OF E HOUSTN RD, Harris, TX

Built 1997 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 800

FURRAY RD

Poor

Over: KENNEDY GULLY

0.20 MI W OF E HOUSTN RD, Harris, TX

Built 1998 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 533

EMILE ST

Poor

Over: JAPHET CREEK

0.10 MI S OF CLINTON DR, Harris, TX

Built 1991 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 1,000

VAN FLEET ST

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.10 MI W OF MLK BLVD, Harris, TX

Built 1996 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 3,600

W 15TH ST

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.10 MI E OF BEALL ST, Harris, TX

Built 1993 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 2,500

LAKE HOUSTON PKWY

Poor

Over: COH FRESHWATER CANAL

3.1 MI E OF BW 8, Harris, TX

Built 1955 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 2,532

US 90A SB

Poor

Over: BUFFALO BAYOU/ ZOLTOWSKI

1.6 MI S OF IH 10, Harris, TX

Built 1956 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 25,730

S BRAESWOOD BLVD

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.15 MI E OF FONDREN RD, Harris, TX

Built 1970 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 44,730

CAMPBELL RD

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.01 MI N OF EMNORA LN, Harris, TX

Built 1997 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 4,000

KIRKWOOD DR NB

Poor

Over: KEEGANS BYU

0.10 MI N OF W BELLFORT, Harris, TX

Built 1970 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 6,965

NAVIGATION BLVD

Poor

Over: UPRR TERMINAL & MACK ST

0.10 MI W OF 67TH ST, Harris, TX

Built 1970 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 17,800

FLAMBOROUGH DR

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.05 MI W OF GLENMORE DR, Harris, TX

Built 1995 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,740

BACA ST

Poor

Over: HCFCD DITCH

0.15 MI N OF IH 10, Harris, TX

Built 1998 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 500

IH 45 SB

Poor

Over: CROSSTIMBERS ST

1.10 MI N OF IH 610, Harris, TX

Built 1960 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 116,204

US 290 EBFR

Poor

Over: Brickhouse Gully

2.6 MI NW of IH 610, Harris, TX

Built 2016 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 5,970

IH45 SB MCKINEY EX

Poor

Over: BUFFALO BYU/IH 45 NB

0.10 MI W OF ALLEN PKWY, Harris, TX

Built 1962 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 21,580

SH 146

Poor

Over: CLEAR CRK & SHIPYARD DR

0.80 MI N OF FM 518, Harris, TX

Built 1986 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 47,938

SH 146 NB

Poor

Over: TAYLOR BAYOU

3.25 MI N OF NASA RD 1, Harris, TX

Built 1969 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 20,500

SH 146 SB

Poor

Over: TAYLOR BAYOU

3.25 MI N OF NASA RD 1, Harris, TX

Built 1969 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 17,357

IH 45 NB

Poor

Over: CROSSTIMBERS ST

1.25 MI N OF IH 610, Harris, TX

Built 1960 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 116,204

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.