County profile · official public datasets

Live Oak County, TX

217 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.2% rated Good, 47.9% Fair, 1.8% Poor.

217
Public bridges: 50.2%
Good condition: 1.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Live Oak 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.

171st
of 247 on Poor share: 1.8%
Poor-condition share: 217
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Live Oak County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Live Oak County ranks #171 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.8%). Live Oak County, Texas contains 217 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.2% are rated “Good,” 47.9% “Fair,” and 1.8% “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

217

Public highway bridges in Live Oak County

Good condition

50.2%

109 of 217 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.9%

104 of 217 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.8%

4 of 217 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#171 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 217 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.2% (109)

Fair

47.9% (104)

Poor

1.8% (4)

Live Oak County's Poor-condition bridges carry 505 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 126 crossings a day against 6,205 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 217 of 217 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.1% of Live Oak County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 217 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 50.2% 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 62.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CARMEL HILLS DR over BELDON HOLLOW, built 1970, carries 315 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 505 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

45
1940s

8
1950s

39
1960s

15
1970s

54
1980s

20
1990s

14
2000s

13
2010s

7
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 13 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Live Oak County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Live Oak County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Live Oak County (this page)	217	50.2%	47.9%	1.8%	1967
Henderson County	216	43.1%	56.5%	0.5%	1978
Austin County	214	63.1%	34.1%	2.8%	1992
Gregg County	214	37.9%	62.1%	0%	1972
Medina County	214	60.3%	37.9%	1.9%	1972
Reeves County	213	52.6%	45.5%	1.9%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (217 bridges here).

Sullivan County, IN · 217 bridges
Harrison County, IA · 217 bridges
Marion County, IA · 217 bridges
Ringgold County, IA · 217 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 217 Good 109 Fair 104 Poor 4

All bridges (217)

Sort:

Live Oak County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Live Oak County's Poor-condition bridges carry 505 vehicle crossings a day

57.1% of Live Oak County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Live Oak 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

All bridges (217)

CR 436

JONES RD

FM 1359

CR 302

SH 72

FM 534

FM 99

FM 882

IH 37

IH 37 EFR

IH 37 EFR

IH 37

IH 37 EFR

IH 37 EFR

IH 37 EFR

IH 37 EFR

IH 37

IH 37

FM 3024

FM 3024

FM 3024

FM 3024

FM 3024

US 281 NB

US 281

US 281

US 281 SB

US 281 NB

US 281

US 281

US 59

US 59

US 59

US 59

FM 799

FM 889

FM 1358

FM 1042

FM 2049

FM1203

US 281 A

US 59

FM 1359

FM 889

FM 889

FM 888

FM 534

FM 534

FM 534

SH 72

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