County profile · official public datasets

Refugio County, TX

136 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.7% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

136
Public bridges: 39.7%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Refugio County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

185th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 136
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Refugio County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Refugio County ranks #185 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Refugio County, Texas contains 136 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.7% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “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

136

Public highway bridges in Refugio County

Good condition

39.7%

54 of 136 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.1%

79 of 136 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

3 of 136 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#185 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 136 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.7% (54)

Fair

58.1% (79)

Poor

2.2% (3)

Refugio County's Poor-condition bridges carry 90 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% 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 30 crossings a day against 1,676 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 136 of 136 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.9% of Refugio County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

72 of the 136 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 39.7% 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 55.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

J W JOHNSON ROAD over DRAINAGE DITCH, built 1960, carries 50 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 90 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

27
1940s

9
1950s

11
1960s

15
1970s

17
1980s

34
1990s

4
2000s

15
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 11 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Refugio 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 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Refugio County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scurry County	138	48.6%	50.7%	0.7%	1962
Robertson County	137	32.8%	63.5%	3.6%	1973
Refugio County (this page)	136	39.7%	58.1%	2.2%	1969
Jack County	135	44.4%	54.8%	0.7%	1968
Midland County	135	45.9%	52.6%	1.5%	1987
Gillespie County	134	56.7%	42.5%	0.7%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (136 bridges here).

Bullock County, AL · 136 bridges
Jackson County, AR · 136 bridges
Perry County, IL · 136 bridges
Lincoln County, KY · 136 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 136 Good 54 Fair 79 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (54)

Sort:

Refugio County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Refugio County's Poor-condition bridges carry 90 vehicle crossings a day

52.9% of Refugio County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 55.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Refugio 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

Good-condition bridges (54)

FM 2678

FM 2678

FM 2678

SH 35

SH 35

SH 35

SH 35

SH 35

SH 239

SH 239

SH 239

FM 2040

US 77 SB

US 77 SB

US 77 NB

FM 1257

FM 1360

FM 1360

FM 1360

FM 629

Dedear Rd

TOUPS RD

BOENIG ROAD

RANCHO GRANDE RD

BOENIG ROAD

BELL ROAD

OLD AUSTWELL ROAD

BICKFORD ROAD

OLD AUSTWELL ROAD

SH 239

US 77 SB

US 77 SB

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 774

FM 136

FM 136

FM 136

FM 136

FM 2441

FM 2441

FM 629

FM 629

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