County profile · official public datasets

Taylor County, TX

419 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.1% rated Good, 54.2% Fair, 0.7% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

419
Public bridges: 45.1%
Good condition: 0.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 47%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.7%
Poor-condition share: 419
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Taylor County ranks #116 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.7%). Taylor County, Texas contains 419 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.1% are rated “Good,” 54.2% “Fair,” and 0.7% “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

419

Public highway bridges in Taylor County

Good condition

45.1%

189 of 419 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.2%

227 of 419 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.7%

3 of 419 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#116 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 419 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.1% (189)

Fair

54.2% (227)

Poor

0.7% (3)

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 620 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 207 crossings a day against 5,399 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 419 of 419 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.2% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

294 of the 419 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 45.1% 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 84.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

E South 7th St over CEDAR CREEK, built 1955, carries 522 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 620 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

38
1930s

8
1940s

22
1950s

120
1960s

96
1970s

14
1980s

23
1990s

29
2000s

50
2010s

16
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 120 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 13 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Taylor County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Taylor County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Smith County	427	47.1%	51.5%	1.4%	1981
Taylor County (this page)	419	45.1%	54.2%	0.7%	1967
Hidalgo County	405	47.4%	51.6%	1%	1990
Hill County	405	41%	58%	1%	1982
Johnson County	404	49.5%	50.5%	0%	1985
Wichita County	399	41.4%	57.9%	0.8%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (419 bridges here).

Kay County, OK · 419 bridges
Lewis County, WA · 419 bridges
Santa Barbara County, CA · 418 bridges
Lucas County, OH · 418 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 419 Good 189 Fair 227 Poor 3

All bridges (419)

Sort:

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 620 vehicle crossings a day

70.2% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 84.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Taylor 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 (419)

BACACITA FARMS RD

CR 184

CR 339

CR 344

CO RD 409

N 3RD ST

HIGH MEADOWS DR

S 20TH ST

SHORELINE DR

N 2ND ST

US 83 BUS

SH 36

US 277

FM 707

FM 126

HARDWICK RD

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FM 3438-HAYTER RD

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SH 351 WB

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SH 351

FM 89

LOOP 322 SB

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FM 600

BUS LOOP 20 R

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FM 3438

US 84 WB ENTR RAMP

US 84 EB EXIT RAMP

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