County profile · official public datasets

Wilson County, TX

139 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67.6% rated Good, 30.2% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

139
Public bridges: 67.6%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

182nd
of 247 on Poor share: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 139
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wilson County ranks #182 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Wilson County, Texas contains 139 public highway bridges. Roughly 67.6% are rated “Good,” 30.2% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

139

Public highway bridges in Wilson County

Good condition

67.6%

94 of 139 rated 7-9

Fair condition

30.2%

42 of 139 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

3 of 139 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#182 of 247

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

Condition distribution

Share of 139 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

67.6% (94)

Fair

30.2% (42)

Poor

2.2% (3)

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 666 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 222 crossings a day against 3,408 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 139 of 139 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.6% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 139 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 67.6% 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 80.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FM 1107 over ECLETO CREEK, built 1970, carries 536 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 666 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

16
1930s

21
1940s

13
1950s

14
1960s

12
1970s

8
1980s

11
1990s

11
2000s

22
2010s

6
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 14 years older than the Texas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Texas counties nearest Wilson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wilson County and the 5 Texas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mitchell County	140	32.9%	66.4%	0.7%	1964
Culberson County	139	43.2%	56.8%	0%	1963
Lee County	139	44.6%	54%	1.4%	1980
Upshur County	139	46%	54%	0%	1968
Wilson County (this page)	139	67.6%	30.2%	2.2%	1966
Scurry County	138	48.6%	50.7%	0.7%	1962

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside TX (139 bridges here).

Bulloch County, GA · 139 bridges
St. Helena County, LA · 139 bridges
Garrett County, MD · 139 bridges
Midland County, MI · 139 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 139 Good 94 Fair 42 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (94)

Sort:

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 666 vehicle crossings a day

57.6% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wilson 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 (94)

US 181

US 181

US 181

LP 181

LP 181

US 87

US 87 SB

FM 1681

SH 97

SH 97

SH 97

SH 97

SH 97

SH 97

SH 119

SH 119

SH 119

SH 123

SH 123

SH 123

SH 123

SH 123

SH 123

SH 123

FM 541

FM 541

FM 541

FM 541

FM 541

FM 541

FM 536

FM 536

FM 537

FM 1303

FM 1303

FM 427

FM 427

FM 539

FM 539

FM 539

FM 2579

FM 2505

FM 775

FM 775

FM 775

FM 3335

FM 3335

FM 3335

US 181

US 87

Related