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.

Total bridges

372

Public highway bridges in Wharton County

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.

1920s

16
1930s

16
1940s

3
1950s

20
1960s

71
1970s

53
1980s

30
1990s

38
2000s

33
2010s

50
2020s

42

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wharton County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 372 Good 194 Fair 165 Poor 13

Good-condition bridges (194)

Sort:

Wharton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wharton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,367 vehicle crossings a day

44.6% of Wharton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wharton 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

Good-condition bridges (194)

CR 271

US 59

US 59

US 59

US 59

US 59

US 59 WFR

US 59 E FR

US 59

BU 59 R

SH 60

SH 71

FM 1300

FM 1300

FM 1300

FM 441

FM 960

FM 640

FM 961

FM 441

FM 1161

FM 1096

FM 1096

FM 2546

FM 2614

FM 2614

FM 2674

FM 2674

FM 2764

FM 2764

FM 2817

FM 2817

FM 2919

FM 2546

FM 2546

FM 2546

FM 3086

FM 3086

FM 3086

OLIVIA ST

PALACIOS STREET

W NORRIS ST

SH 60/BU 59 R

FM 640

CR 102

CO RD 117

CO RD 125 & 225

CR 277

CR 403

CR 324

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