County profile · official public datasets

McLennan County, TX

714 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.8% rated Good, 46.2% Fair, 2% Poor.

714
Public bridges: 51.8%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

178th
of 247 on Poor share: 2%
Poor-condition share: 714
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

McLennan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McLennan County ranks #178 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). McLennan County, Texas contains 714 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.8% are rated “Good,” 46.2% “Fair,” and 2% “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

714

Public highway bridges in McLennan County

Good condition

51.8%

370 of 714 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.2%

330 of 714 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14 of 714 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#178 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 714 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.8% (370)

Fair

46.2% (330)

Poor

2% (14)

McLennan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,846 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,703 crossings a day against 23,395 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 714 of 714 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.4% of McLennan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

360 of the 714 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 51.8% 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 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LP 2 EB / 18TH ST over UPRR MARY AVE WACO CRK, built 1935, carries 8,074 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 23,846 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

4
1930s

84
1940s

11
1950s

71
1960s

102
1970s

110
1980s

40
1990s

50
2000s

91
2010s

103
2020s

45

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 110 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest McLennan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1991 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for McLennan County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fort Bend County	795	72.8%	24.7%	2.5%	1998
El Paso County	783	54.4%	44.8%	0.8%	1986
McLennan County (this page)	714	51.8%	46.2%	2%	1980
Montgomery County	710	69.2%	30.1%	0.7%	1998
Ellis County	691	53.3%	45.2%	1.6%	1987
Bell County	660	54.7%	45%	0.3%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (714 bridges here).

Pinal County, AZ · 716 bridges
Madison County, AL · 710 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · 721 bridges
Champaign County, IL · 727 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Hinds County, MS · avg 1980 · 663 bridges

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

All 714 Good 370 Fair 330 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (370)

Sort:

McLennan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

McLennan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,846 vehicle crossings a day

50.4% of McLennan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How McLennan 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 (370)

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