County profile · official public datasets

Lamar County, TX

307 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.6% rated Good, 50.5% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

307
Public bridges: 46.6%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

210th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 307
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.

Lamar County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lamar County ranks #210 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Lamar County, Texas contains 307 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.6% are rated “Good,” 50.5% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

307

Public highway bridges in Lamar County

Good condition

46.6%

143 of 307 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.5%

155 of 307 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

9 of 307 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#210 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 307 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.6% (143)

Fair

50.5% (155)

Poor

2.9% (9)

Lamar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 32,468 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,608 crossings a day against 1,200 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 306 of 307 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.5% of Lamar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

112 of the 307 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 46.6% 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 76.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 82 over STILLHOUSE CREEK, built 1959, carries 24,836 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 32,468 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

8
1940s

20
1950s

43
1960s

29
1970s

22
1980s

19
1990s

40
2000s

77
2010s

44
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 77 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Lamar County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 5th-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 Lamar County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Tom Green County	310	61%	38.4%	0.6%	1971
Falls County	308	43.5%	54.2%	2.3%	1988
Fannin County	307	44.3%	50.2%	5.5%	1984
Lamar County (this page)	307	46.6%	50.5%	2.9%	1984
Guadalupe County	296	58.8%	41.2%	0%	1977
Gonzales County	284	45.4%	51.8%	2.8%	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 Lamar 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 Lamar County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (307 bridges here).

Jewell County, KS · 307 bridges
Spokane County, WA · 307 bridges
Rockingham County, NH · 308 bridges
Surry County, NC · 308 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 307 Good 143 Fair 155 Poor 9

Good-condition bridges (143)

Sort:

Lamar County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lamar County's Poor-condition bridges carry 32,468 vehicle crossings a day

36.5% of Lamar County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 76.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lamar 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 (143)

FM 1184

CR 31700

US 82

US 82

US 82

FM 137

FM 38

FM 79

FM 195

FM 195

FM 137

FM 38

FM 197

FM 1184

FM 1498

FM 1498

FM 1502

FM 38

FM 196

FM 79

FM 79

FM 195

FM 905

FM 38

FM 197

FM 1499

FM 2352

CR 324 (14200)

CR 330 (14050)

Center Street

Clark Ln

Mahaffey St

31st St SE

US 271 SB

FM 1497

FM 137

FM 196

FM 1497

FM 1510

FM 1510

FM 194

FM 194

FM 194

FM 137

FM 137

FM 137

FM 79

FM 79

FM 79

FM 1497

Related