Total bridges
210
Public highway bridges in Polk County
County profile · official public datasets
Polk County, TX
210 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.1% rated Good, 46.2% Fair, 5.7% Poor.
- 210
- Public bridges
- 48.1%
- Good condition
- 5.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Polk County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 242nd
- of 247 on Poor share
- 5.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 210
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Polk County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Polk County ranks #242 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Polk County, Texas contains 210 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.1% are rated “Good,” 46.2% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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.
Good condition
48.1%
101 of 210 rated 7-9
Fair condition
46.2%
97 of 210 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.7%
12 of 210 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#242 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 210 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 48.1% (101)
Fair 46.2% (97)
Poor 5.7% (12)
Polk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,051 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,588 crossings a day against 2,030 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 210 of 210 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
35.2% of Polk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
74 of the 210 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 48.1% 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 64.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 190 over KICKAPOO CREEK, built 1969, carries 12,306 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 19,051 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Polk County's bridges were built
210 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s 8
1930–1939
8 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
20 bridges
- 1950s 15
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
20 bridges
- 1970s 17
1970–1979
17 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
22 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
34 bridges
- 2000s 16
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
46 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Texas average (1980).
How Polk County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest Polk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 8 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Comanche County | 212 | 45.3% | 52.8% | 1.9% | 1974 |
| Polk County (this page) | 210 | 48.1% | 46.2% | 5.7% | 1983 |
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 Polk 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 Polk County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (210 bridges here).
- Fulton County, IL · 210 bridges
- Clinton County, IN · 210 bridges
- Howard County, IA · 210 bridges
- Montgomery County, IA · 210 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1983 here).
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
- Bernalillo County, NM · avg 1983 · 496 bridges
- Black Hawk County, IA · avg 1983 · 489 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (12)
KENNEDY ROAD
PoorOver: TRIB OF MCMANUS CRK
0.75 MI N OF US 287, Polk, TX
Built 1989 Load: 5.4 t ADT: 39
W CANEY LOOP
PoorOver: CANEY CREEK
0.50 MI SW OF FM 1745, Polk, TX
Built 2002 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 39
SUNFLOWER RD
PoorOver: BIG SANDY CREEK
5.7 MI S OF FM 1276, Polk, TX
Built 1985 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 100
WILSON RD
PoorOver: W FORK DOUBLE BRANCH CRK
5.2 MI S OF FM 1276, Polk, TX
Built 1985 Load: 13.2 t ADT: 55
DARDEN RD
PoorOver: BLUFF CREEK
1.3 MI N OF US 190, Polk, TX
Built 1985 Load: 13.4 t ADT: 115
CARMONA ROAD
PoorOver: PINEY CREEK
3.1 MI N OF US 287, Polk, TX
Built 1980 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 39
BERING ROAD
PoorOver: LONG KING CREEK
3.30 MI SE OF FM 350, Polk, TX
Built 2004 Load: 19.2 t ADT: 27
BUS 59
PoorOver: CHOATES CREEK
0.15 MI S OF US 190, Polk, TX
Built 1923 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 6,139
NINE BRIDGE ROAD
PoorOver: PINEY CREEK BRANCH
1.65 MI N OF FM 352, Polk, TX
Built 1994 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 39
US 190
PoorOver: KICKAPOO CREEK
0.40 MI W OF FM 3152, Polk, TX
Built 1969 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 12,306
HODGE BOTTOM RD
PoorOver: OPEN BOTTOM CREEK
0.8 MI N OF FM 356, Polk, TX
Built 1994 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 103
ANDREW JACKSON DR
PoorOver: MENARD CREEK
4.3 MI E OF SH 146, Polk, TX
Built 1990 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.