County profile · official public datasets

Stephens County, TX

115 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.1% rated Good, 60% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

115
Public bridges
39.1%
Good condition
0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Stephens 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.

128th
of 247 on Poor share
0.9%
Poor-condition share
115
public highway bridges
1962
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.

Stephens County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Stephens County ranks #128 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Stephens County, Texas contains 115 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.1% are rated “Good,” 60% “Fair,” and 0.9% “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

115

Public highway bridges in Stephens County

Good condition

39.1%

45 of 115 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60%

69 of 115 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

1 of 115 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#128 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 115 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
39.1% (45)
Fair
60% (69)
Poor
0.9% (1)

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

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 50 crossings a day against 714 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 115 of 115 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

73.9% of Stephens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 115 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 39.1% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 146 over GONZALES CREEK, built 1981, 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.

When Stephens County's bridges were built

115 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1962, 18 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Stephens County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Stephens County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
McCulloch County 118 0%
Hall County 117 2.6%
Stephens County (this page) 115 0.9%
Brewster County 114 0%
Val Verde County 113 0%
Kendall County 112 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 Stephens 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 Stephens County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (115 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1962 here).

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

All bridges (115)

CR 154

Good

Over: W FORK GONZALES CREEK

0.70 MI OF CR 162, Stephens, TX

Built 2018 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

CR 157

Good

Over: W FORK GONZALES CREEK

0.35 MI E OF US 183, Stephens, TX

Built 2018 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

CR 187

Good

Over: HOG CREEK

0.7 MI S OF FM 576, Stephens, TX

Built 2014 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

CR 281

Good

Over: GIVENS CREEK

0.40 MI N OF CR 280, Stephens, TX

Built 2001 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

CR 303

Good

Over: Stoker Branch

0.35 MI. NORTHEAST OF FM, Stephens, TX

Built 2023 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

E LINDSEY ST

Good

Over: GONZALES CREEK

0.25 MI E OF US 183, Stephens, TX

Built 1996 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 802

ELM ST

Good

Over: GONZALES DRAW

0.4 MI W OF US 183, Stephens, TX

Built 2015 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 320

OAKWOOD AVE

Good

Over: GONZALES DRAW

0.05 MI N OF US 180, Stephens, TX

Built 2006 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 210

FM 207

Good

Over: CADDO CREEK

0.30 MI W OF FM 717, Stephens, TX

Built 1957 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 100

US 183

Good

Over: SNAKE DEN CREEK

8.6 MI N OF FM 578, Stephens, TX

Built 1960 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 930

CR 187

Good

Over: BIG SANDY CREEK

1.30 MI S OF FM 1032, Stephens, TX

Built 1983 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 50

CR 190

Good

Over: BIG SANDY CREEK

1.05 MI W OF FM 1032, Stephens, TX

Built 1985 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 50

FM 3253

Good

Over: CEDAR CREEK

2.80 MI S OF FM 1148, Stephens, TX

Built 1974 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 107

FM 576

Good

Over: GONZALES CREEK

1.70 MI E OF US 183, Stephens, TX

Built 1989 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 338

CR 146

Poor

Over: GONZALES CREEK

0.65 MI W OF FM 1852, Stephens, TX

Built 1981 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 50
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.