How many bridges are in Tennessee?

Tennessee has 20,379 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory. View detailed condition data for each bridge on PlainBridges.

What percentage of bridges in Tennessee are in Poor condition?

4.4% of bridge records in Tennessee are in Poor condition, meaning the lowest applicable major-component rating is 4 or below, compared with 7.5% across state inventories.

State profile · Below median Poor share

Tennessee bridge safety

Name: Tennessee public highway bridge inventory (FHWA NBI)
Creator: PlainBridges
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, condition ratings, load ratings, and Poor-condition shares for every public highway bridge in Tennessee.

Compiled by PlainBridges

20,379
Public bridges: 42.5%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

Tennessee holds 20,379 public highway bridges (#10 of 52 by inventory) with a 4.41% Poor share (#41 of 52 by Poor share).

That is 4.4% of the state's inventory, against an average of 7.5% across the 54 states and territories with Poor-rated bridges on file, which places it 12 of 54 ordered from the lowest Poor share upward. A bridge is rated Poor when its weakest applicable component scores 4 or below on the inspecting agency's 0-9 scale, so the category is a maintenance and funding signal rather than a closure order or a live crossing-safety verdict.

Inventory: FHWA NBI 2024 · last ETL August 2026

Total Bridges

20,379

Public highway bridges in Tennessee

Good Condition

42.5%

8,664 bridges rated 7-9

-7.5pp vs 50% benchmark

Poor Condition

4.4%

898 bridges whose lowest applicable component is rated 0-4

-3.1pp vs national avg 7.5%

Tennessee vs national bridge condition

Tennessee - Good condition share 42.5%

National avg

Share of bridges rated 7-9 on the FHWA 0-9 scale (deck, superstructure, substructure all good).

Tennessee - Poor-condition share 14.7%

National avg

Lower is better. Bar maxes at 30% (worst-state ceiling). National average sits at 7.5%.

Inventory size and Poor-condition share are different measures: Tennessee has 20,379 bridges and a 4.4% Poor-condition share in the 2024 NBI, rank #12 of 54 jurisdictions ordered from the lowest share upward. The dashed comparisons mark the national average state rate and the midpoint of the plotted inventory range; neither is a live safety or closure threshold.

Tennessee vs all states by public bridge inventory

Where this state's FHWA NBI public-highway bridge count sits among every state and territory on PlainBridges

20,379 10th of 54 higher than 44 of 54 states

States and territories, banded by public bridge inventory size

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory · 2024

Read the rank neighborhood for Tennessee

The highlighted point is Tennessee: 20,379 bridges and 4.41% in Poor condition, rank #12 of 54 jurisdictions ordered from the lowest share upward. The five jurisdictions immediately above and below Tennessee on that same Poor-share ordering:

Alabama: 16,205 bridges · 3.35% Poor
Virginia: 14,120 bridges · 3.39% Poor
Tennessee: 20,379 bridges · 4.41% Poor
Minnesota: 13,532 bridges · 4.44% Poor
New Mexico: 4,035 bridges · 4.51% Poor

The full national sortable table lives on the rankings page.

Material families in Tennessee

Exclusive FHWA material families across all 20,379 bridges in this state; continuous variants fold into the parent family. Orthogonal to the Poor-share scatter above.

Concrete 12,247 bridges (60%) Prestressed concrete 5,697 bridges (28%) Steel 2,331 bridges (11%) Wood or timber 76 bridges (0%) Other 28 bridges (0%)

Who maintains Tennessee’s inventory

State agency holds 41.4% of the 20,379 public highway bridges filed under Tennessee in the 2024 NBI, the agency-of-record split for this state, not a condition verdict.

State agency 8,431 bridges (41%) County agency 9,347 bridges (46%) Local agency 2,239 bridges (11%) Federal agency 357 bridges (2%) Other 5 bridges (0%)

When Tennessee’s bridges were built

Pre-1950 construction accounts for 11.7% of the 20,379 bridges with a recorded original year in Tennessee. Era bands are orthogonal to the Poor-share ranking above.

Pre-1950 2,378 bridges (12%) 1950–1979 7,358 bridges (36%) 1980–1999 7,101 bridges (35%) 2000+ 3,542 bridges (17%)

Condition Distribution

Bridge inventory deck-condition mix - Tennessee (FHWA NBI)

Counties (95)

Anderson 175 Bedford 294 Benton 147 Bledsoe 83 Blount 215 Bradley 199 Campbell 137 Cannon 159 Carroll 240 Carter 195 Cheatham 128 Chester 127 Claiborne 98 Clay 64 Cocke 190 Coffee 217 Crockett 167 Cumberland 137 Davidson 832 DeKalb 100 Decatur 104 Dickson 243 Dyer 232 Fayette 336 Fentress 55 Franklin 157 Gibson 386 Giles 321 Grainger 88 Greene 306 Grundy 85 Hamblen 119 Hamilton 464 Hancock 61 Hardeman 223 Hardin 192 Hawkins 190 Haywood 241 Henderson 207 Henry 187 Hickman 331 Houston 118 Humphreys 250 Jackson 131 Jefferson 122 Johnson 109 Knox 588 Lake 30 Lauderdale 258 Lawrence 211 Lewis 136 Lincoln 304 Loudon 117 Macon 169 Madison 418 Marion 177 Marshall 240 Maury 424 McMinn 219 McNairy 218 Meigs 76 Monroe 145 Montgomery 186 Moore 69 Morgan 120 Obion 381 Overton 78 Perry 153 Pickett 30 Polk 140 Putnam 167 Rhea 100 Roane 159 Robertson 204 Rutherford 428 Scott 111 Sequatchie 67 Sevier 273 Shelby 1077 Smith 202 Stewart 168 Sullivan 368 Sumner 398 Tipton 201 Trousdale 88 Unicoi 161 Union 61 Van Buren 37 Warren 160 Washington 284 Wayne 274 Weakley 351 White 69 Williamson 520 Wilson 402

Tennessee vs nearby ranks

Adjacent states by Poor-condition share (lower share = better)

States are ranked by the share of bridges whose lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below. This describes recorded condition; it does not measure funding effectiveness or live crossing safety. States here sit immediately above and below Tennessee on the same metric.

Alabama

3.35% top marginal rate

Structure: Progressive
Burden @ $100K: $16,205

Virginia

3.39% top marginal rate

Structure: Progressive
Burden @ $100K: $14,120

Selected

Tennessee

4.41% top marginal rate

Structure: Progressive
Burden @ $100K: $20,379

Minnesota

4.44% top marginal rate

Structure: Progressive
Burden @ $100K: $13,532

New Mexico

4.51% top marginal rate

Structure: Progressive
Burden @ $100K: $4,035

Bridges Needing Most Attention in Tennessee

Six lowest-condition bridges in Tennessee, ranked by the portal's composite display score. Inspection intervals are risk-based under current NBIS rules.

Tennessee vs national bridge condition

Material families in Tennessee

Who maintains Tennessee’s inventory

When Tennessee’s bridges were built

Condition Distribution

Counties (95)

Bridges Needing Most Attention in Tennessee

NFA A868

NFA 5551

DOSSETT LANE

NFA A258

FAU 06022

NFA A985

All Bridges in Tennessee

I24

I40 348852T

FAS 179

FAP 96

NFA A005

I24 EBL

FAP 28

FAS 54

FAP 13

NFA A991

FAS 265

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

FAP 28

FAS 104

NFA 1433 (SA 2308)

I24

I24

NFA 5445

I40

I40

NFSR 35-1

I40

NFA E526

FAP 96 350363H

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NFA A021

NFA A209

FAP 14

I40

NFA A152 (SA 8705)

NFA A280

NFA 1846 (SA 4125)

NFA A115

NFA 815 (SA 9220)

NFA A021 (SA 0919)

I40

FAP 100

I24 WBL

NFA A048

NFA 979 (SA 1109)

FAP 52

NFA 2515 (SA 1501)

NFA 2574

NFA A136

I40

FAP 9

I24 EBL

FAS 2

NFA 2202 (SA 1814)

I40

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