Total bridges
372
Public highway bridges in Wharton County
County profile · official public datasets
Wharton County, TX
372 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.2% rated Good, 44.4% Fair, 3.5% Poor.
- 372
- Public bridges
- 52.2%
- Good condition
- 3.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wharton County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 221st
- of 247 on Poor share
- 3.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 372
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Wharton County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wharton County ranks #221 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Wharton County, Texas contains 372 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.2% are rated “Good,” 44.4% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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
52.2%
194 of 372 rated 7-9
Fair condition
44.4%
165 of 372 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.5%
13 of 372 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#221 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 372 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 52.2% (194)
Fair 44.4% (165)
Poor 3.5% (13)
Wharton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,367 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 105 crossings a day against 3,458 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 372 of 372 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
44.6% of Wharton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
166 of the 372 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 52.2% 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 19.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
PINCHOT ST over TRES PALACIOS RIVER, built 1985, carries 267 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,367 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Wharton County's bridges were built
372 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 16
1920–1929
16 bridges
- 1930s 16
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 20
1950–1959
20 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
71 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
53 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
30 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
38 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
33 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
50 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
42 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 71 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Texas average (1980).
How Wharton County compares with Texas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Texas counties nearest Wharton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webb County | 383 | 49.6% | 48.8% | 1.6% | 1977 |
| Wharton County (this page) | 372 | 52.2% | 44.4% | 3.5% | 1983 |
| Fayette County | 371 | 44.7% | 52.3% | 3% | 1975 |
| Brazos County | 370 | 62.4% | 37.6% | 0% | 1989 |
| Cameron County | 355 | 62% | 37.5% | 0.6% | 1992 |
| Parker County | 350 | 49.7% | 49.1% | 1.1% | 1985 |
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 Wharton 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 Wharton County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside TX (372 bridges here).
- Clinton County, IA · 372 bridges
- Johnson County, IA · 372 bridges
- Harper County, KS · 372 bridges
- Harvey County, KS · 372 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1983 here).
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
- Bernalillo County, NM · avg 1983 · 496 bridges
- Black Hawk County, IA · avg 1983 · 489 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (165)
BU 59 R
FairOver: COLORADO RIVER RELIEF
0.65 MI NE OF FM 961, Wharton, TX
Built 1933 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,164
SH 60
FairOver: MIDDLE BERNARD CREEK
1.85 MI N OF US 90A, Wharton, TX
Built 1958 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 3,597
FM 1093
FairOver: MIDDLE BERNARD CREEK
0.50 MI E OF FM 2764, Wharton, TX
Built 1957 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,083
FM 442
FairOver: BEE TREE BAYOU
3.60 MI NE OF FM 1301, Wharton, TX
Built 1961 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 5,013
FM 1160
FairOver: WEST MUSTANG CREEK
2.65 MI S OF FM 1300W, Wharton, TX
Built 1964 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 636
FM 1162
FairOver: BLUE CREEK
1.40 MI E OF US 59, Wharton, TX
Built 1956 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 496
FM 1162
FairOver: BLUE CREEK
3.90 MI E OF US 59, Wharton, TX
Built 1956 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 261
CR 106
FairOver: LCRA CANAL
0.5 MI SW OF SH 60, Wharton, TX
Built 2005 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 210
CR 101
FairOver: CANEY CREEK
0.2 MI NE OF FM 1301, Wharton, TX
Built 1998 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 70
CO RD 216
FairOver: BOONE BRANCH
2.71 MI E OF US 59, Wharton, TX
Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 310
CR 235
FairOver: PEACH CREEK
3.23 MI N OF FM 102, Wharton, TX
Built 2008 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 260
CO RD 129
FairOver: PEACH CREEK TRIBUTARY
2.60 MI S OF FM 1161, Wharton, TX
Built 1985 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 500
CR 271
FairOver: GUM TREE BRANCH
1.6 MI NE OF CR 267, Wharton, TX
Built 1990 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 130
CO RD 381
FairOver: MIDDLE TURKEY CREEK
0.8 MI SW OF CR 394, Wharton, TX
Built 1991 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 90
EGYPT CUTOFF RD
FairOver: PEACH CREEK
0.12 MI S OF FM 1161, Wharton, TX
Built 1991 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,360
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.