County profile · official public datasets

Smith County, TX

427 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.1% rated Good, 51.5% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

427
Public bridges
47.1%
Good condition
1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

156th
of 247 on Poor share
1.4%
Poor-condition share
427
public highway bridges
1981
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.

Smith County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Smith County ranks #156 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Smith County, Texas contains 427 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.1% are rated “Good,” 51.5% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

427

Public highway bridges in Smith County

Good condition

47.1%

201 of 427 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.5%

220 of 427 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

6 of 427 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#156 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 427 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
47.1% (201)
Fair
51.5% (220)
Poor
1.4% (6)

Smith County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,742 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,790 crossings a day against 3,732 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 427 of 427 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.9% of Smith County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

196 of the 427 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 47.1% 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 67.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 64 over LAKE TYLER - E MUD CREEK, built 1937, carries 7,260 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,742 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Smith County's bridges were built

427 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 95 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Smith County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Smith County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Kaufman County 452 1.1%
Smith County (this page) 427 1.4%
Taylor County 419 0.7%
Hidalgo County 405 1%
Hill County 405 1%
Johnson County 404 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 Smith 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 Smith County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (427 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1981 here).

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

All 427 Good 201 Fair 220 Poor 6

All bridges (427)

FM 2767

Good

Over: HARRIS CREEK

5.6 MI E OF LOOP 323, Smith, TX

Built 1979 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,701

FM 756

Good

Over: TOLL 49

2.0 MI E OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2009 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 7,119

CR 145

Good

Over: DEAN BR

0.65 MI SW OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2004 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 45

CR 220

Good

Over: Prairie Cr

1.4 mi E of SH 64, Smith, TX

Built 2021 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 652

CR 223

Good

Over: LITTLE RABBIT CRK TR

0.65 MI W OF FM 850, Smith, TX

Built 2020 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 143

CR 1125

Good

Over: INDIAN CREEK

0.50 MI S OF SP 364, Smith, TX

Built 2011 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 2,979

CR 1131

Good

Over: BUTLER CREEK

2.00 MI S OF FM 2661, Smith, TX

Built 1998 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 90

CR 1141

Good

Over: BUTLER CREEK

0.50 MI N OF CR 1113, Smith, TX

Built 2002 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 276

CR 2122

Good

Over: Gilley Cr

1.3mi W of FM 848, Smith, TX

Built 2019 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 149

CR 2125 (MOSER LN)

Good

Over: HILL CREEK

0.03 MI E of SH 110, Smith, TX

Built 2015 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 50

CR 2138

Good

Over: MUD CREEK

0.90 MI S OF SH 110, Smith, TX

Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 193

CR 2138

Good

Over: KICKAPOO CREEK

0.95 MI S OF SH 110, Smith, TX

Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 193

CR 2179

Good

Over: BELL BRANCH

0.10 MI W OF CR 2138, Smith, TX

Built 2009 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 102

CR 3101

Good

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1.35 MI S OF IH 20, Smith, TX

Built 2001 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 149

TOLL 49

Good

Over: SHACKLEFORD CR

0.8 MI E OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2009 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,151

TOLL 49

Good

Over: US 69

AT US 69 S OF TYLER, Smith, TX

Built 2009 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 8,703

TOLL 49

Good

Over: WEST MUD CR

0.8 MI W OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 8,703

CR 128

Good

Over: TOLL 49

1.4 MI W OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,250

TOLL 49

Good

Over: FM2493/CR165/HENSHAW CR

2.3 MI W OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 8,703

CR 178

Good

Over: TOLL 49

3.2 MI W OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,836

TOLL 49

Good

Over: SALINE CR

4.3 MI W OF US 69, Smith, TX

Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 9,570

CR 351

Poor

Over: GLADE CREEK

0.95 MI W OF SH 155, Smith, TX

Built 1991 Load: 10.9 t ADT: 77

CR 452

Poor

Over: MILL CREEK

1.1 MI E OF FM 1804, Smith, TX

Built 1985 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 380

CR 363

Poor

Over: SIMPSON CREEK

0.45 MI N OF FM 16, Smith, TX

Built 2001 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 280

FM 346

Poor

Over: MUD CREEK

4.2 MI N OF SH 110, Smith, TX

Built 1954 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,365

CR 471

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1.55 MI E OF SH 110, Smith, TX

Built 1960 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 380

SH 64

Poor

Over: LAKE TYLER - E MUD CREEK

1.7 MI SE OF FM 3226, Smith, TX

Built 1937 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 7,260

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

Related

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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.