County profile · official public datasets

Tarrant County, TX

2,617 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.2% rated Good, 41.4% Fair, 0.4% Poor.

2,617
Public bridges: 58.2%
Good condition: 0.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Tarrant County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.4%
Poor-condition share: 2,617
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Tarrant County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tarrant County ranks #97 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.4%). Tarrant County, Texas contains 2,617 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.2% are rated “Good,” 41.4% “Fair,” and 0.4% “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

2,617

Public highway bridges in Tarrant County

Good condition

58.2%

1,524 of 2,617 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.4%

1,083 of 2,617 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.4%

10 of 2,617 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#97 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 2,617 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.2% (1,524)

Fair

41.4% (1,083)

Poor

0.4% (10)

Tarrant County's Poor-condition bridges carry 167,826 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16,783 crossings a day against 20,108 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 2,617 of 2,617 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.1% of Tarrant County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

684 of the 2,617 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 58.2% 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 21.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SPUR 347 EB over IH 35W SB, built 1960, carries 35,634 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 167,826 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

8
1930s

64
1940s

44
1950s

81
1960s

264
1970s

356
1980s

417
1990s

365
2000s

370
2010s

542
2020s

103

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 542 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 10 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Tarrant County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tarrant County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Harris County	4,029	50.7%	48.7%	0.6%	1989
Dallas County	3,230	42.5%	56.4%	1%	1983
Tarrant County (this page)	2,617	58.2%	41.4%	0.4%	1990
Bexar County	2,342	55%	44.7%	0.3%	1983
Travis County	1,544	63.9%	35.9%	0.2%	1988
Williamson County	1,170	67.4%	32.2%	0.3%	1995

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (2,617 bridges here).

Maricopa County, AZ · 2,847 bridges
Cook County, IL · 1,721 bridges
Los Angeles County, CA · 3,547 bridges
San Diego County, CA · 1,632 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1990 here).

Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges
Adams County, CO · avg 1990 · 535 bridges

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

All 2,617 Good 1,524 Fair 1,083 Poor 10

All bridges (2,617)

Sort:

Tarrant County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tarrant County's Poor-condition bridges carry 167,826 vehicle crossings a day

26.1% of Tarrant County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tarrant 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 (2,617)

IH 35W EFR

IH-35W GP & ML

IH35W NB Managed

IH 35W SB ML

IH 35W NB GP Lanes

IH-35W Managed Lan

IH-35W NB GP Lanes

US287 NB to 35 N

820 WB to 35 SB GP

Belknap to 35W ML

30 E to 35W NB ML

IH35W NB ML Ramp

IH 35W N TA at 183

IH35SB EXP TO 820W

IH35 NB to 820 WB

IH35SBGP to 820 WB

US 377 NBL

SP 347 WB BELKNAP

US 377

SP347 EX RMP IH35S

SP 347 EB/Weatherf

Spur 347 WB

US 377

US 377

US 377

ALLIANCE BLVD

IH 35W SB FR

SH 170 LFR (WB)

SH 170 RFR (EB)

HERITAGE TRACE PKY

IH 35 SB FRNTG RD

IH 35W NB FR

IH-35W GP & ML

IH-35W NB Ft. Rd.

IH35W NB GP Lns

IH35W Managed Lns

IH35W SB GP Lanes

IH35W NB GP Lanes

IH35W Managed Lns

IH35W SB GP Lanes

IH35W NB GP Lanes

IH35W Managed Lns

IH35W SB GP Lanes

IH35 NB ML Exit Rp

IH35 NB ML Exit Rp

IH35 S Ft Rd to ML

NTA at Heritage Pk

STA at Heritage Pk

N TA @ Tarrant Pkw

S TA @ Tarrant Pkw

Related