County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, TX

457 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.4% rated Good, 50.1% Fair, 1.5% Poor.

457
Public bridges: 48.4%
Good condition: 1.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

161st
of 247 on Poor share: 1.5%
Poor-condition share: 457
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #161 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.5%). Jefferson County, Texas contains 457 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.4% are rated “Good,” 50.1% “Fair,” and 1.5% “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

457

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

48.4%

221 of 457 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.1%

229 of 457 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.5%

7 of 457 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#161 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 457 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.4% (221)

Fair

50.1% (229)

Poor

1.5% (7)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 134,131 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 19,162 crossings a day against 9,568 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 457 of 457 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.7% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

250 of the 457 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 48.4% 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 66.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IH 10 over 11TH ST, built 1958, carries 89,604 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 134,131 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

23
1940s

7
1950s

30
1960s

137
1970s

73
1980s

57
1990s

41
2000s

36
2010s

30
2020s

21

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 137 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pecos County	470	62.8%	36.8%	0.4%	1962
Jefferson County (this page)	457	48.4%	50.1%	1.5%	1977
Hunt County	456	51.8%	47.6%	0.7%	1981
Kaufman County	452	46.5%	52.4%	1.1%	1976
Smith County	427	47.1%	51.5%	1.4%	1981
Taylor County	419	45.1%	54.2%	0.7%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (457 bridges here).

Luzerne County, PA · 457 bridges
Denver County, CO · 458 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · 459 bridges
Woodbury County, IA · 455 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 457 Good 221 Fair 229 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (221)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 134,131 vehicle crossings a day

54.7% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 66.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (221)

LIBERTY-LAUREL RD

IH 10 EB

US 69 NB

US 69 SB

SPUR 380 NB

SPUR 380 NB

US 69 SB

US 69 NB

US 69/96/287 NB

US 69/96/287 NB

US 69 NB

US 69 SBFR

US 69 NBML

US 69/96/287

US 69 NBFR

US 69

US 69

SH 87 SB CONN

SH 87 SB

SH 87 NB

SH 105

SH 105

SH 105

SH 124

SH 73 WB

SH 73 EB

SH 73 EB

SH 73 EB

SH 73 EB

SH 73 EB

SH 73

SH 73 WB

SH 73 EB

SH 73 EB FR

25TH STREET

SH 73 EB

SH 73 WB

SH 82

SPUR 136

SH 347 SB

IH 10

Brush Island Rd.

IH 10

IH 10 EB and WB

BROOKS ROAD

FM 364

FM 365

FM 365

FM 365

FM 365

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