County profile · official public datasets

Potter County, TX

181 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.5% rated Good, 48.1% Fair, 4.4% Poor.

181
Public bridges: 47.5%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

234th
of 247 on Poor share: 4.4%
Poor-condition share: 181
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Potter County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Potter County ranks #234 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.4%). Potter County, Texas contains 181 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.5% are rated “Good,” 48.1% “Fair,” and 4.4% “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

181

Public highway bridges in Potter County

Good condition

47.5%

86 of 181 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.1%

87 of 181 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.4%

8 of 181 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#234 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 181 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.5% (86)

Fair

48.1% (87)

Poor

4.4% (8)

Potter County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,635 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,829 crossings a day against 15,460 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 181 of 181 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.3% of Potter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 181 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 47.5% 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 24.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Hughes Adams St over BNSF RR SW 1ST NW 1ST, built 1985, carries 7,630 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 30,635 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

4
1950s

10
1960s

55
1970s

11
1980s

15
1990s

24
2000s

23
2010s

24
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Potter County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Potter County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jim Wells County	186	56.5%	41.9%	1.6%	1969
Angelina County	183	45.4%	54.6%	0%	1978
Potter County (this page)	181	47.5%	48.1%	4.4%	1984
Jasper County	179	44.7%	53.1%	2.2%	1973
Orange County	179	49.7%	48%	2.2%	1979
Waller County	177	43.5%	55.4%	1.1%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (181 bridges here).

Lamar County, AL · 181 bridges
Jasper County, IL · 181 bridges
Malheur County, OR · 181 bridges
Lancaster County, SC · 181 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Steuben County, NY · avg 1984 · 627 bridges

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

All 181 Good 86 Fair 87 Poor 8

All bridges (181)

Sort:

Potter County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Potter County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,635 vehicle crossings a day

45.3% of Potter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Potter 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 (181)

IH 40 WB

LP 434

US 60 WB

IH 40 ML & WBFR

IH 40 WB

SH 136

SH 136

IH 40 EB

Willow Creek Dr

Cliffside Rd

W. Chaparral Rd

Reclamation Rd

Westline Rd.

Avondale St

US 87 SB

IH 40 EB

IH27 NB TO IH40 WB

IH 40

Willow Creek St

IH 40 EB

IH 40 EB

IH 40 WB

CLIFFSIDE ROAD

IH 40 EB

IH 40 WB

IH 40 EB

IH 40 WB

US 87 NB

US 60 SB (PIERCE)

US 87 SB (287 SB)

US 87 NB (287 NB)

24th St

IH 40 EB

BI 40 EB

BI 40 WB

BI 40 EB

BELL ST

BELL ST

US 60 & 87

IH27 SB TO IH40 EB

US 60

US 60 EB

US 60

IH 40

IH40 WB TO IH27 SB

IH 40 WB OFF-RAMP

SP 468

IH 40 EB

IH 40 WB

IH 40 EBML

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