Total bridges
167
Public highway bridges in Cherokee County
County profile · official public datasets
Cherokee County, AL
167 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.3% rated Good, 70.7% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 167
- Public bridges
- 29.3%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Cherokee County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 3%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 0%
- Poor-condition share
- 167
- public highway bridges
- 1960
- 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.
Cherokee County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cherokee County ranks #2 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Cherokee County, Alabama contains 167 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.3% are rated “Good,” 70.7% “Fair,” and 0% “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.
Good condition
29.3%
49 of 167 rated 7-9
Fair condition
70.7%
118 of 167 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 167 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#2 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 167 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 29.3% (49)
Fair 70.7% (118)
Poor 0% (0)
79% of Cherokee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
132 of the 167 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 29.3% 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.
When Cherokee County's bridges were built
167 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 10
1920–1929
10 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
18 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
28 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
37 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
36 bridges
- 1970s 6
1970–1979
6 bridges
- 1980s 9
1980–1989
9 bridges
- 1990s 8
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s 11
2000–2009
11 bridges
- 2010s 4
2010–2019
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1960, 14 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.
How Cherokee County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest Cherokee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1960 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 14 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crenshaw County | 171 | 45% | 53.2% | 1.8% | 1978 |
| Pike County | 169 | 59.8% | 39.1% | 1.2% | 1975 |
| Wilcox County | 168 | 29.2% | 57.1% | 13.7% | 1974 |
| Cherokee County (this page) | 167 | 29.3% | 70.7% | 0% | 1960 |
| Cleburne County | 165 | 32.1% | 61.8% | 6.1% | 1973 |
| Randolph County | 165 | 37.6% | 57.6% | 4.8% | 1968 |
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 Cherokee 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 Cherokee County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (167 bridges here).
- Garfield County, CO · 167 bridges
- Mitchell County, IA · 167 bridges
- Ness County, KS · 167 bridges
- Gratiot County, MI · 167 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1960 here).
- Windham County, VT · avg 1960 · 337 bridges
- Plymouth County, MA · avg 1960 · 287 bridges
- Cheshire County, NH · avg 1960 · 192 bridges
- Washington County, NY · avg 1960 · 189 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (167)
CHEROKEE #101
GoodOver: BRANCH
0.9 MI N INT US #411, Cherokee, AL
Built 1995 Load: 44.3 t ADT: 258
COUNTY ROAD 47
GoodOver: WOLF CREEK BRANCH
1.8 MI N INT ALA #273, Cherokee, AL
Built 2005 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 500
AL 68
GoodOver: CHATTOGA RIVER
AL 68 OVER CHATTOGA RIVER, Cherokee, AL
Built 1994 Load: 46.6 t ADT: 5,235
CHEROKEE #17
GoodOver: Yellow Creek
0.2 MI N INT CHEROKEE #70, Cherokee, AL
Built 1956 Load: 47.9 t ADT: 125
SR 9
GoodOver: TERRAPIN CREEK
3.4 mi N JNCT SR9/CORD3, Cherokee, AL
Built 2019 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 506
CHEROKEE #17
GoodOver: YELLOW CREEK RELIEF B
0.3 MI N INT CHEROKEE #70, Cherokee, AL
Built 1956 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 125
COUNTY ROAD 22
GoodOver: COWAN CREEK
1.5 MILES NW JCT. CR 31, Cherokee, AL
Built 2009 Load: 48.9 t ADT: 2,730
SR 35
GoodOver: LITTLE RIVER CANYON
Dekalb &Cherokee Co line, Cherokee, AL
Built 2010 Load: 49.7 t ADT: 3,645
CHEROKEE #127
GoodOver: BRANCH
.5 MI N CO RT 15, Cherokee, AL
Built 1986 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 105
CHEROKEE #15
GoodOver: MILLS CREEK
9 MI N JCT SR 35, Cherokee, AL
Built 1985 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 815
US 411 SR 25
GoodOver: BRANCH
3.5 MI W JCT SR 25 * 68, Cherokee, AL
Built 1985 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 8,095
COUNTY ROAD 47
GoodOver: WOLF CREEK
0.5 MI N INT ALA #273, Cherokee, AL
Built 2005 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 500
CHEROKEE #48
GoodOver: YELLOW CREEK
0.5 MI NE ALA #68, Cherokee, AL
Built 1992 Load: 66.5 t ADT: 500
CHEROKEE #171
GoodOver: CREEK
0.4 MI N INT CHEROKEE #39, Cherokee, AL
Built 1940 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 50
CHEROKEE #168
GoodOver: BRANCH
0.1 MI W CO #168, Cherokee, AL
Built 1958 Load: 71.8 t ADT: 120
US 278
GoodOver: BRANCH
11 MI E JCT SR 9 * 74, Cherokee, AL
Built 1935 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 1,934
CHEROKEE #89
GoodOver: SPRING BRANCH
0.9 MI NE INT CHEROKEE 87, Cherokee, AL
Built 2003 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 75
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.