County profile · official public datasets

Matagorda County, TX

192 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.5% rated Good, 55.7% Fair, 6.8% Poor.

192
Public bridges: 37.5%
Good condition: 6.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

245th
of 247 on Poor share: 6.8%
Poor-condition share: 192
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Matagorda County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Matagorda County ranks #245 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.8%). Matagorda County, Texas contains 192 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.5% are rated “Good,” 55.7% “Fair,” and 6.8% “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

192

Public highway bridges in Matagorda County

Good condition

37.5%

72 of 192 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.7%

107 of 192 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.8%

13 of 192 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#245 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 192 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.5% (72)

Fair

55.7% (107)

Poor

6.8% (13)

Matagorda County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,445 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,034 crossings a day against 2,064 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 192 of 192 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

70 of the 192 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 37.5% 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 27% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 35 NB over COLORADO RIVER, built 1961, carries 10,639 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,445 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

12
1950s

22
1960s

25
1970s

16
1980s

30
1990s

28
2000s

33
2010s

18
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Matagorda County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Matagorda County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Erath County	198	53.5%	46%	0.5%	1973
Cherokee County	196	26%	74%	0%	1974
Houston County	196	41.3%	51.5%	7.1%	1984
Matagorda County (this page)	192	37.5%	55.7%	6.8%	1982
Milam County	191	44.5%	54.5%	1%	1979
Jim Wells County	186	56.5%	41.9%	1.6%	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 Matagorda 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 Matagorda County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (192 bridges here).

Barbour County, AL · 192 bridges
El Dorado County, CA · 192 bridges
Santa Cruz County, CA · 192 bridges
Morgan County, CO · 192 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 192 Good 72 Fair 107 Poor 13

Fair-condition bridges (107)

Sort:

Matagorda County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Matagorda County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,445 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 27% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Matagorda 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

Fair-condition bridges (107)

SH 71

SH 71

FM 457

FM 521

FM 521

FM 521

CANAL DRIVE

CR 426 (WIND RD)

SIMS RD/CR 153

THIRTEENTH ST

AVE H

SH 35

BARBER RD/CR 338

FM 521

MICHALIK RD/CR 327

SH 35

FM 2540

MILLION DOLLAR RD

AP RANCH RD

CR 423(MORALES RD)

CR 423(MORALES RD)

OYSTER LAKE/CR 365

10TH ST

TURTLE BAY/CR 335

TURNER RD (CR 102)

GRACE ST

HOFFMAN RD

HENRY RD/CR 383

BRAZOS ST

BUFFALOE RD/CR 322

RIVERSIDE RD

FM 2853

PHEASANT SWITCH RD

ASHBY BUCKEYE RD

MCDONALD RD/CR 208

FM 1095

FM 2668

SH 35 NB

SH 111

FM 616

FM 457

FM 457

FM 457

FM 457

FM 457

FM 521 Service Rd

FM 521

FM 521

FM 1301

HILL RD/CR 117

Related