County profile · official public datasets

Van Zandt County, TX

249 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.6% rated Good, 58.6% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

249
Public bridges: 38.6%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

205th
of 247 on Poor share: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 249
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Van Zandt County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Van Zandt County ranks #205 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Van Zandt County, Texas contains 249 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.6% are rated “Good,” 58.6% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

249

Public highway bridges in Van Zandt County

Good condition

38.6%

96 of 249 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.6%

146 of 249 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

7 of 249 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#205 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 249 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.6% (96)

Fair

58.6% (146)

Poor

2.8% (7)

Van Zandt County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,132 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 162 crossings a day against 1,460 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 249 of 249 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

56.2% of Van Zandt County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

140 of the 249 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 38.6% 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.

One structure carries 63.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM 858 over KICKAPOO CRK TR, built 1949, carries 714 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,132 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

20
1940s

10
1950s

17
1960s

88
1970s

5
1980s

9
1990s

27
2000s

40
2010s

21
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 88 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Texas average (1980).

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Van Zandt County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 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 Van Zandt County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Colorado County	252	48.8%	48.8%	2.4%	1971
Hopkins County	250	46.4%	51.2%	2.4%	1978
Van Zandt County (this page)	249	38.6%	58.6%	2.8%	1977
Grimes County	245	41.2%	57.6%	1.2%	1984
Lubbock County	242	45.9%	53.7%	0.4%	1988
Nacogdoches County	237	21.1%	73.4%	5.5%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (249 bridges here).

Brevard County, FL · 249 bridges
Carroll County, IA · 249 bridges
Phillips County, KS · 249 bridges
Lawrence County, OH · 249 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 249 Good 96 Fair 146 Poor 7

All bridges (249)

Sort:

Van Zandt County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Van Zandt County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,132 vehicle crossings a day

56.2% of Van Zandt County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 63.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Van Zandt 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 (249)

SH 110

SH 243

FM 16

FM 16

FM 47

FM 47

FM 751

FM 773

FM 859

FM 859

FM 859

FM 1256

FM 3227

FM 1652

FM 1652

FM 1995

RM 2909

RM 2909

FM 2965

FM 3080

CR 2301

US 80

US 80 WB

FM 279

FM 279

CR 2144/CR 3439

CR 1308/4418

FM 773

IH 20 NFR

FM 16

FM 314

FM 2339

FM 1395

CR 1321

CR 2404

CR 3204

SOUTH ELM ST

FM 17

CR 1519

CR 2112/CR 3412

FM 47

FM 1255

IH 20 WB

IH 20 EB

CR 4930

US 80

US 80

CR 2116/CR 3416

FM 2339

SH 243

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