Total bridges
264
Public highway bridges in Wise County
County profile · official public datasets
264 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 61.4% rated Good, 37.5% Fair, 1.1% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wise County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wise County ranks #138 of 247 Texas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.1%). Wise County, Texas contains 264 public highway bridges. Roughly 61.4% are rated “Good,” 37.5% “Fair,” and 1.1% “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
264
Public highway bridges in Wise County
Good condition
61.4%
162 of 264 rated 7-9
Fair condition
37.5%
99 of 264 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.1%
3 of 264 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#138 of 247
Among Texas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 264 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 287 crossings a day against 3,829 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 264 of 264 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
68 of the 264 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 61.4% 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.
FM 1658 over LAKE BRIDGEPORT SPLW, built 1972, carries 701 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 861 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
264 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1920–1929
2 bridges
1930–1939
4 bridges
1940–1949
12 bridges
1950–1959
21 bridges
1960–1969
15 bridges
1970–1979
20 bridges
1980–1989
32 bridges
1990–1999
44 bridges
2000–2009
75 bridges
2010–2019
34 bridges
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 75 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 9 years newer than the Texas average of 1980.
The 5 Texas counties nearest Wise County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 14 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 246 Texas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays County | 272 | 79% | 20.6% | 0.4% | 1996 |
| Harrison County | 269 | 41.6% | 55.8% | 2.6% | 1972 |
| Wise County (this page) | 264 | 61.4% | 37.5% | 1.1% | 1989 |
| DeWitt County | 263 | 49.8% | 49% | 1.1% | 1962 |
| Lavaca County | 262 | 50% | 47.3% | 2.7% | 1973 |
| Colorado County | 252 | 48.8% | 48.8% | 2.4% | 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 Wise County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Wise County, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside TX (264 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside TX (1989 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: Trib of Pringle Ck
0.3 MI SOUTH OF CR 2265, Wise, TX
Over: FM 730
1.77 MI N OF FM-2264, Wise, TX
Over: Cowskin Creek
1.1 Mi S of Montague C/L, Wise, TX
Over: Trib. of Denton Creek
0.3 Mi. SE of FM 730, Wise, TX
Over: TRIB OF DENTON CREEK
1.0 MI W OF FM 1204, Wise, TX
Over: Catlett Ck
0.3 MI W OF FM 51, Wise, TX
Over: Blue Creek
0.8 Mi. N. of SH-114, Wise, TX
Over: TRIB WALNUT CREEK
1.2 MI. W. FROM US 287, Wise, TX
Over: TRIB TO W FORK TRNTY RIV
1.1 MI. W. OF FM 718, Wise, TX
Over: Trib. of Denton Creek
0.8 MI NW of Pk. Dairy Rd, Wise, TX
Over: TRIB WEST FORK TRINITY
.5 MI E OF FM 730, Wise, TX
Over: BIG SANDY CREEK
1.93 MI. W. OF US 287, Wise, TX
Over: PANTHER CREEK
1.00 MI S OF FM 1655, Wise, TX
Over: LAKE BRIDGEPORT SPLW
0.2 MILES WEST OF FM 2952, Wise, TX
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.