County profile · official public datasets

San Saba County, TX

90 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.6% rated Good, 43.3% Fair, 1.1% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

90
Public bridges: 55.6%
Good condition: 1.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

San Saba 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.

136th
of 247 on Poor share: 1.1%
Poor-condition share: 90
public highway bridges: 1960
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 Saba County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, San Saba County ranks #136 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.1%). San Saba County, Texas contains 90 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.6% are rated “Good,” 43.3% “Fair,” and 1.1% “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

Public highway bridges in San Saba County

Good condition

55.6%

50 of 90 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.3%

39 of 90 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.1%

1 of 90 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#136 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 90 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.6% (50)

Fair

43.3% (39)

Poor

1.1% (1)

San Saba County's Poor-condition bridges carry 50 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 50 crossings a day against 831 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 90 of 90 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

74.4% of San Saba County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

67 of the 90 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 55.6% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 252 over RICHLAND CREEK, built 1936, 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 50 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

29
1940s

6
1950s

15
1960s

12
1970s

2
1980s

5
1990s

3
2000s

8
2010s

5
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1960, 20 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest San Saba County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1960 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for San Saba County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
San Augustine County	94	46.8%	53.2%	0%	1979
Sabine County	93	50.5%	48.4%	1.1%	1979
Sutton County	92	39.1%	60.9%	0%	1961
Childress County	91	47.3%	50.5%	2.2%	1964
Lampasas County	91	50.5%	49.5%	0%	1958
San Saba County (this page)	90	55.6%	43.3%	1.1%	1960

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (90 bridges here).

Greenlee County, AZ · 90 bridges
Clay County, FL · 90 bridges
Taylor County, FL · 90 bridges
Monroe County, GA · 90 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1960 here).

Windham County, VT · avg 1960 · 337 bridges
Plymouth County, MA · avg 1960 · 287 bridges
Cheshire County, NH · avg 1960 · 192 bridges
Washington County, NY · avg 1960 · 189 bridges

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

All 90 Good 50 Fair 39 Poor 1

All bridges (90)

Sort:

San Saba County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

San Saba County's Poor-condition bridges carry 50 vehicle crossings a day

74.4% of San Saba County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How San Saba 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 (90)

FM 501

FM 501

FM 501

FM 501

FM 502

FM 1030

FM 2732

FM 2997

FM 500

US 190

FM 1031

US 190

FM 1031

FM 45

SH 16

FM 2732

FM 500

FM 580

FM 45

FM 1480

CR 111

CR 200

CR 216

CR 340

CR 340

CR 236

CR 260

CR 126

CR 350

CR 402

SH 16

FM 502

SH 16

SH 16

SH 16

SH 16

US 190

FM 580

FM 1031

CR 252

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