County profile · official public datasets

Nueces County, TX

528 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.5% rated Good, 43.8% Fair, 0.8% Poor.

528
Public bridges: 55.5%
Good condition: 0.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nueces County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 49%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.8%
Poor-condition share: 528
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Nueces County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nueces County ranks #122 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.8%). Nueces County, Texas contains 528 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.5% are rated “Good,” 43.8% “Fair,” and 0.8% “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

528

Public highway bridges in Nueces County

Good condition

55.5%

293 of 528 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.8%

231 of 528 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.8%

4 of 528 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#122 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 528 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.5% (293)

Fair

43.8% (231)

Poor

0.8% (4)

Nueces County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,000 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,750 crossings a day against 13,713 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 528 of 528 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.6% of Nueces County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

204 of the 528 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 55.5% 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 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OCEAN DRIVE WB over CAYO DEL OSO, built 1976, carries 13,330 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 27,000 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

12
1940s

19
1950s

39
1960s

91
1970s

45
1980s

66
1990s

73
2000s

92
2010s

42
2020s

41

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 92 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 5 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Nueces County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nueces County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Nueces County (this page)	528	55.5%	43.8%	0.8%	1985
Grayson County	513	40.5%	57.7%	1.8%	1985
Pecos County	470	62.8%	36.8%	0.4%	1962
Jefferson County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (528 bridges here).

Merced County, CA · 528 bridges
LaSalle County, IL · 528 bridges
New Castle County, DE · 527 bridges
Marathon County, WI · 530 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Douglas County, NE · avg 1985 · 509 bridges
Darke County, OH · avg 1985 · 463 bridges

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

All 528 Good 293 Fair 231 Poor 4

All bridges (528)

Sort:

Nueces County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nueces County's Poor-condition bridges carry 27,000 vehicle crossings a day

38.6% of Nueces County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nueces 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 (528)

FT WORTH ST

BEAL DR.

GUADALUPE R DR.

KILLARMET DR

WEST GUTH PARK 1

LAGUNA SHORES RD

PATTON STREET

PHILIPPINE DR

SANDRA LANE

SCHANEN BLVD

MONK DRIVE

RODD FIELD RD.

YORKTOWN ROAD

CIMARRON BLVD

CIMARRON BLVD.

CR 7B

EDINBURG CIRCLE

WARRIOR DRIVE

CRICKET HOLLOW

SERVICE CENTER RD

TEXAS YES BLVD

CR 36

CR 36

SH 286 NB

SH 44 WB

FM 665

SH 286 SB

SH 358 EB

SH 358 WB

SH 358 WB

FM 665

CARANCAHUA ST

SH 286 NB

SH 286 SB

SH 358

SH 358 EB

SH 358 EB

SH 358 EB

US 77 SB CONN

CORN PRODUCTS RD

IH 37 NB

IH 37 SBML

IH 37 CROSSOVER

IH 37 CONN FM 624

US 77 NB CONN

IH 37 SB ON RAMP

IH 37 SB

CARBON PLANT CON

N STAPLES ST

IH 37 SBML

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