Total bridges
235
Public highway bridges in San Patricio County
County profile · official public datasets
San Patricio County, TX
235 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.7% rated Good, 50.6% Fair, 1.7% Poor.
- 235
- Public bridges
- 47.7%
- Good condition
- 1.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
San Patricio County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 168th
- of 247 on Poor share
- 1.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 235
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
San Patricio County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, San Patricio County ranks #168 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). San Patricio County, Texas contains 235 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.7% are rated “Good,” 50.6% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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
47.7%
112 of 235 rated 7-9
Fair condition
50.6%
119 of 235 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.7%
4 of 235 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#168 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 235 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 47.7% (112)
Fair 50.6% (119)
Poor 1.7% (4)
San Patricio County's Poor-condition bridges carry 649 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 162 crossings a day against 4,843 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 235 of 235 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
46.8% of San Patricio County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
110 of the 235 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 47.7% 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 82.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
CR 1458 (CR 102) over DRAINAGE DITCH, built 1940, carries 535 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 649 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When San Patricio County's bridges were built
235 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
18 bridges
- 1940s 16
1940–1949
16 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
22 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
39 bridges
- 1980s 13
1980–1989
13 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
41 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
42 bridges
- 2010s 15
2010–2019
15 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Texas average (1980).
How San Patricio County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest San Patricio County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nacogdoches County | 237 | 21.1% | 73.4% | 5.5% | 1978 |
| Palo Pinto County | 237 | 41.8% | 57.8% | 0.4% | 1962 |
| San Patricio County (this page) | 235 | 47.7% | 50.6% | 1.7% | 1978 |
| Eastland County | 234 | 40.6% | 58.1% | 1.3% | 1965 |
| Montague County | 234 | 47% | 50.4% | 2.6% | 1985 |
| Washington County | 232 | 38.8% | 57.8% | 3.4% | 1989 |
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 San Patricio 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 San Patricio County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (235 bridges here).
- Crittenden County, AR · 235 bridges
- Greenwood County, KS · 235 bridges
- McDowell County, NC · 235 bridges
- Etowah County, AL · 236 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (112)
CR 1612 (CR 78)
GoodOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
1.80 MI NW OF FM 2986, San Patricio, TX
Built 2011 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 52
N RACHAL STREET
GoodOver: CHILTIPIN CREEK
0.40 MI N OF US 181, San Patricio, TX
Built 1991 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 52
CR 1360 (CR 100)
GoodOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
3.30 MI E OF FM 631, San Patricio, TX
Built 1985 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 67
CR 2200 (CR 66)
GoodOver: DRAW
0.90 MI W OF CR 3161, San Patricio, TX
Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 75
IH 37 SB
GoodOver: ABANDONED RR
0.4 MI SE OF SH 359, San Patricio, TX
Built 1971 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 12,288
IH 37 SB
GoodOver: SH 359
1.8 MI SE OF FM 3377, San Patricio, TX
Built 1971 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 11,250
IH 37 EFR
GoodOver: ARROYO NOMBRE DE DIOS
0.5 MI SE OF SH 188, San Patricio, TX
Built 1934 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 570
US 181 NB
GoodOver: TERRE BONNIE DITCH
1.00 MI SE OF FM 631, San Patricio, TX
Built 1967 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 4,068
US 181 NB
GoodOver: TOMLINSON COLEMAN DITCH
2.70 MI N OF FM 631, San Patricio, TX
Built 1965 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 3,896
US 181 NB
GoodOver: DRAINAGE DITCH
0.70 MI NW OF FM 631, San Patricio, TX
Built 1965 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 3,896
FM 666
GoodOver: ARROYO NOMBRE DE DIOS
3.8 MI SE OF SH 359, San Patricio, TX
Built 1980 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 1,419
FM 796
GoodOver: AQUILLA CREEK
2.2 MI NW OF FM 3089, San Patricio, TX
Built 1969 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 100
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.