County profile · official public datasets

Orange County, TX

179 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.7% rated Good, 48% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

179
Public bridges: 49.7%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

187th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 179
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orange County ranks #187 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Orange County, Texas contains 179 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.7% are rated “Good,” 48% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

179

Public highway bridges in Orange County

Good condition

49.7%

89 of 179 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48%

86 of 179 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

4 of 179 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#187 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 179 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

49.7% (89)

Fair

48% (86)

Poor

2.2% (4)

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,806 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,702 crossings a day against 18,416 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 179 of 179 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.7% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 179 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 49.7% 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 88.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 73/SH 87 NB over COW BAYOU, built 1941, carries 13,049 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 14,806 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

18
1950s

31
1960s

34
1970s

6
1980s

5
1990s

20
2000s

32
2010s

24
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Orange County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Orange County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Potter County	181	47.5%	48.1%	4.4%	1984
Jasper County	179	44.7%	53.1%	2.2%	1973
Orange County (this page)	179	49.7%	48%	2.2%	1979
Waller County	177	43.5%	55.4%	1.1%	1987
Anderson County	176	57.4%	42.6%	0%	1978
Atascosa County	176	61.4%	38.1%	0.6%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (179 bridges here).

Graham County, AZ · 179 bridges
Thomas County, GA · 179 bridges
Carroll County, IL · 179 bridges
Fremont County, IA · 179 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 179 Good 89 Fair 86 Poor 4

All bridges (179)

Sort:

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,806 vehicle crossings a day

49.7% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 88.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Orange 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 (179)

CALL ST

RAY WILLEY RD

PARK AVE

DAVIS ST

FLINT ST

HOLLY ST

NEWTON ST

FM 105

DOTY RD

2ND ST

WALDEN ROAD

East Lindberg St.

OLD HIGHWAY 90

Orange Street

E RAILROAD ST

E RAILROAD ST

W. PARK AVE.

SH 87

FM 1135

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SH 12 Connector

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