Total bridges
54
Public highway bridges in Sterling County
County profile · official public datasets
Sterling County, TX
54 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.6% rated Good, 44.4% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 54
- Public bridges
- 55.6%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Sterling County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 19%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 0%
- Poor-condition share
- 54
- public highway bridges
- 1966
- 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.
Sterling County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sterling County ranks #47 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Sterling County, Texas contains 54 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.6% are rated “Good,” 44.4% “Fair,” and 0% “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
55.6%
30 of 54 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.4%
24 of 54 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 54 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#47 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 54 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 55.6% (30)
Fair 44.4% (24)
Poor 0% (0)
72.2% of Sterling County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
39 of the 54 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.
When Sterling County's bridges were built
54 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
16 bridges
- 1960s 5
1960–1969
5 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
9 bridges
- 1980s 3
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s 4
1990–1999
4 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s 2
2010–2019
2 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 14 years older than the Texas average of 1980.
How Sterling County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest Sterling County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1962 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ward County | 54 | 18.5% | 79.6% | 1.9% | 1964 |
| Sterling County (this page) | 54 | 55.6% | 44.4% | 0% | 1966 |
| Rains County | 53 | 45.3% | 50.9% | 3.8% | 1979 |
| Terrell County | 53 | 54.7% | 45.3% | 0% | 1957 |
| Throckmorton County | 53 | 56.6% | 41.5% | 1.9% | 1954 |
| Borden County | 52 | 53.8% | 46.2% | 0% | 1957 |
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 Sterling 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 Sterling County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (54 bridges here).
- Rio Blanco County, CO · 54 bridges
- Brantley County, GA · 54 bridges
- Jones County, GA · 54 bridges
- Larue County, KY · 54 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1966 here).
- Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
- Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
- Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
- Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (24)
SH 163
FairOver: WILLOW CREEK
7.75 MI N OF US 87, Sterling, TX
Built 1950 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 1,040
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
17.8 MI SE GLASSCOCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1967 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 7,650
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
12.3 MI SE GLASSCOCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1997 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,612
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
9.05 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
10.5 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
10.70 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
0.30 MI E OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1955 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
1.90 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1955 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: DRAW
2.30 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1955 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
US 87
FairOver: COX HOLLOW
6.05 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1971 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 6,667
SH 158
FairOver: N CONCHO RIVER REL
0.70 MI W OF US 87, Sterling, TX
Built 1956 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,665
SH 158
FairOver: DRAW
7.50 MI E OF GLASSCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1956 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,665
SH 158
FairOver: DRAW
6.20 MI E OF GLASSCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1956 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,665
SH 158
FairOver: BOBS CREEK
4.80 MI E OF GLASSCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1956 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 2,665
RM 2139
FairOver: STERLING CREEK BRANCH
3.30 MI SW OF SH 163, Sterling, TX
Built 1975 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 290
US 87
FairOver: McENTIRE DRAW
9.31 MI SE GLASSCOCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 1930 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,612
US 87
FairOver: BODCAW DRAW
0.40 MI W OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 7,998
SH 163
FairOver: NORTH CONCHO RIVER
0.40 MI S OF US 87, Sterling, TX
Built 1954 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 582
SH 158 WB
FairOver: US 87 SB
2.90 MI NW OF SH 163, Sterling, TX
Built 1989 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,210
SH 158
FairOver: NORTH CONCHO RIVER
0.85 miles West of US 87, Sterling, TX
Built 2014 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,665
US 87
FairOver: GARDNER DRAW
4.92 MI SE GLASSCOCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 2003 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 2,612
US 87
FairOver: WADE DRAW
6.70 MI SE GLASSCOCK C/L, Sterling, TX
Built 2003 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 2,612
US 87 SB
FairOver: NORTH CHINA DRAW
7.90 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 3,330
US 87 SB
FairOver: CHINA DRAW
8.60 MI SE OF SH 158, Sterling, TX
Built 1929 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 3,330
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.