County profile · official public datasets

Rains County, TX

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.3% rated Good, 50.9% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

53
Public bridges
45.3%
Good condition
3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

226th
of 247 on Poor share
3.8%
Poor-condition share
53
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.

Rains County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rains County ranks #226 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Rains County, Texas contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.3% are rated “Good,” 50.9% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

53

Public highway bridges in Rains County

Good condition

45.3%

24 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.9%

27 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

2 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#226 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
45.3% (24)
Fair
50.9% (27)
Poor
3.8% (2)

Rains County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 30 crossings a day against 1,595 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 53 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.4% of Rains County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

23 of the 53 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 45.3% 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 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 1495 over Little Slough Branch, built 1997, carries 30 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 60 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Rains County's bridges were built

53 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Texas average (1980).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Rains County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1960 is 19 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rains County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Sterling County 54 0%
Ward County 54 1.9%
Terrell County 53 0%
Throckmorton County 53 1.9%
Rains County (this page) 53 3.8%
Borden County 52 0%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (53 bridges here).

Similar average build year

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

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

All 53 Good 24 Fair 27 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (24)

FM 514

Good

Over: SHEPARD CREEK

2.67 MI NE OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1990 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 682

CR 3380

Good

Over: Mustang Creek

1.0 Mi S of FM 515, Rains, TX

Built 1992 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 190

CR 2220

Good

Over: Sandy Creek

1.0 Mi E of SH 19, Rains, TX

Built 1992 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 130

SH 19

Good

Over: GLADE CREEK

1.20 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1950 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 6,493

FM 514

Good

Over: ELM CREEK

0.90 MI E OF SH 19, Rains, TX

Built 1953 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 960

SH 276

Good

Over: BLACKWATER CRK

0.89 MI W OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1955 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,710

SH 276

Good

Over: BRUSHY CRK

2.25 MI W OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1955 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,377

SH 276

Good

Over: REEDER CRK

4.75 MI W OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1955 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,377

SH 276

Good

Over: SHEFFIELD CRK

6.54 MI W OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1959 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,377

FM 779

Good

Over: SIMPKINS CRK

11.10 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1963 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 296

SH 19

Good

Over: LAKE FORK

1.10 MI S OF FM 514, Rains, TX

Built 1978 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 4,367

SH 19

Good

Over: YELLOW STEER SLOUGH

7.10 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 2002 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 4,680

SH 19

Good

Over: SABINE RIVER

7.30 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 2002 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,916

FM 47

Good

Over: SABINE RIVER

9.20 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 2014 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,223

FM 514

Good

Over: TURKEY CREEK

3.90 MI NE OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1990 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 682

FM 2946

Good

Over: LAKE FORK CREEK

2.0 MI S OF FM 514, Rains, TX

Built 1978 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,969

FM 275

Good

Over: LAKE FORK CREEK

3.4 MI N OF SH 19, Rains, TX

Built 2022 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 804

FM 3274

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

3.0 MI S OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1986 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 276

CR 1605

Good

Over: Bull Creek

1.0 Mi W of FM 2737, Rains, TX

Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

CR 1402

Good

Over: Cedar Creek

1.3 Mi W of FM 47, Rains, TX

Built 2013 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 141

CR 3425

Good

Over: Elm Creek

0.9 Mi W of FM 2081, Rains, TX

Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100

CR 1410

Good

Over: Shuttle Creek

0.3 Mi E of FM 47, Rains, TX

Built 2008 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 113

FM 514

Good

Over: LAKE FORK CREEK

1.90 MI NE OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1990 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 682

FM 514

Good

Over: TURKEY CREEK RELIEF

3.80 MI NE OF US 69, Rains, TX

Built 1990 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 682

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.