County profile · official public datasets

Chambers County, AL

185 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.9% rated Good, 40% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

185
Public bridges: 51.9%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chambers County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

61st
of 67 on Poor share: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 185
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Chambers County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chambers County ranks #61 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Chambers County, Alabama contains 185 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.9% are rated “Good,” 40% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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

185

Public highway bridges in Chambers County

Good condition

51.9%

96 of 185 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40%

74 of 185 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.1%

15 of 185 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 185 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.9% (96)

Fair

40% (74)

Poor

8.1% (15)

Chambers County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,652 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 177 crossings a day against 698 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 185 of 185 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.2% of Chambers County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 185 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 51.9% 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 47.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 77 over ALLEN CREEK(HOOTALOCCO), built 1941, carries 1,261 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,652 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

10
1930s

6
1940s

18
1950s

15
1960s

34
1970s

12
1980s

33
1990s

21
2000s

24
2010s

9
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Alabama average (1974).

How Chambers County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Chambers County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chambers County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Butler County	189	27%	72%	1.1%	1976
Chilton County	189	50.3%	48.7%	1.1%	1972
Fayette County	186	30.6%	68.3%	1.1%	1969
Chambers County (this page)	185	51.9%	40%	8.1%	1973
St. Clair County	183	27.3%	71%	1.6%	1967
Lamar County	181	26%	71.8%	2.2%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (185 bridges here).

Maui County, HI · 185 bridges
Lawrence County, IL · 185 bridges
Saline County, IL · 185 bridges
Cass County, IN · 185 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1973 here).

Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges

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

All 185 Good 96 Fair 74 Poor 15

Good-condition bridges (96)

Sort:

Chambers County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chambers County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,652 vehicle crossings a day

49.2% of Chambers County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chambers County compares with Alabama'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 (96)

CO. 174

_CO RD 1021

CO. 48

CO. 187

CO 28

CO. 282

I-85

CO. 54

CO. 83

CO. 389

CO.299

CO. 1269

CO. 1054

CO. 83

CO. 1099

CO. 195

CO. 176

CO 48

CO 216

COUNTY ROAD 1068

COUNTY ROAD 1068

CO. 158

CO. 5214

CO. 3

CO. 241

CO. 1266

CO. 1268

CO. 1297

CO. 1048

CO RD 1246

CO.173

SR15 / US29

_CO RD 224

CO. 237

CO. 1174

CO 105

CO. 48

CO. 11

CO. 51

CO. 53

CO. 281

CO. 12

CO. 1062

CO. 108

CO. 258

CO.11

CO. 241

CO. 1100

CO 266

CO. 155

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