County profile · official public datasets

Clay County, AL

129 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.6% rated Good, 67.4% Fair, 7% Poor.

129
Public bridges
25.6%
Good condition
7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clay 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.

58th
of 67 on Poor share
7%
Poor-condition share
129
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.

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clay County ranks #58 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7%). Clay County, Alabama contains 129 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.6% are rated “Good,” 67.4% “Fair,” and 7% “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

129

Public highway bridges in Clay County

Good condition

25.6%

33 of 129 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.4%

87 of 129 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7%

9 of 129 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#58 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 129 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
25.6% (33)
Fair
67.4% (87)
Poor
7% (9)

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,882 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 209 crossings a day against 378 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 129 of 129 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.2% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

79 of the 129 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 25.6% 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 62.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 77 over WESOBULGA CREEK, built 1950, carries 1,181 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,882 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Clay County's bridges were built

129 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 8 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Clay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clay County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Bullock County 136 1.5%
Henry County 133 0%
Clay County (this page) 129 7%
Bibb County 126 0.8%
Coosa County 126 4%
Autauga County 118 2.5%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (129 bridges here).

Similar average build year

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

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

All 129 Good 33 Fair 87 Poor 9

All bridges (129)

COUNTY LINE RD

Good

Over: CEDAR CREEK

1.0 MI NE SIKESVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1992 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 98

SR 9

Good

Over: ENITACHOPCO CREEK

5.5MI N MILLERVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1997 Load: 42.3 t ADT: 2,943

CRAGFORD RD

Good

Over: CROOKED CREEK * ACLRLWAY

CRAGFORD, Clay, AL

Built 1975 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 138

GREEN ACRES ROAD

Good

Over: LITTLE HATCHET CREEK

?????????????????????????, Clay, AL

Built 2006 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 23

MCKAY ROAD

Good

Over: MAD INDIAN CREEK

7 MILES N. OF LINEVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 2003 Load: 43.9 t ADT: 180

COUNTY ROAD 30

Good

Over: WHITE OAK CREEK

?????????????????????????, Clay, AL

Built 2005 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 415

EAST MILL ROAD

Good

Over: MAD INDIAN CREEK

NEAR BARFIELD, Clay, AL

Built 2005 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 195

NEW PROSPECT ROAD

Good

Over: ENITACHAPCO CREEK

2.5 MILES S OF HARKINS, Clay, AL

Built 1998 Load: 47.8 t ADT: 420

CO 30

Good

Over: BUCK CREEK

1.5 MI W SHILOH CH, Clay, AL

Built 1951 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 320

WINDMILL ROAD

Good

Over: CARR CREEK

6 MILES S OF ASHLAND, Clay, AL

Built 1999 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 33

SR 9

Good

Over: LITTLE KETCHEPEDRAKEE CK

7.5 MI N LINEVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1925 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 2,313

SALEM ROAD

Good

Over: LYNCH CREEK

NEAR HARKINS CROSS ROADS, Clay, AL

Built 2005 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 68

SR 9

Good

Over: SAXON CREEK

3 MI N COOSA CO LINE, Clay, AL

Built 1942 Load: 64.5 t ADT: 1,787

COUNTY ROAD 29

Good

Over: KELLY CREEK

MILLERVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 2005 Load: 65.5 t ADT: 20

HORNS VALLEY ROAD

Good

Over: WEST FORK OF HATCHET CRK

?????????????????????????, Clay, AL

Built 2007 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 23

SR9

Good

Over: LITTLE HILLABEE CREEK

1 MI S OF MILLERVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 2015 Load: 68.6 t ADT: 1,643

AL 281

Good

Over: STREAM

3.0 MI S CLEB. CO. LINE, Clay, AL

Built 1988 Load: 73.5 t ADT: 113

NO DATA ENTERED

Good

Over: CHEAHA CREEK

NO DATA ENTERED, Clay, AL

Built 2016 Load: 76.5 t ADT: 50

WESOBULGA CREEK RD

Good

Over: WHITE OAK CREEK

NEAR CRAGFORD, Clay, AL

Built 2004 Load: 81.1 t ADT: 35

WALKER ROAD

Good

Over: WESOBULGA CREEK

CRAGFORD, Clay, AL

Built 2005 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 20

MISTY LANE

Poor

Over: HATCHETT CREEK

0.5 M SW BROWNSVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1985 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 30

PINE HOLE ROAD

Poor

Over: CSX RAILROAD

2 MILES S OF LINEVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1965 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 45

WATERSHED RD

Poor

Over: WHITE OAK CREEK

1.5 M SW CRAGFORD SCHOOL, Clay, AL

Built 1966 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 14

HODGE CREEK RD

Poor

Over: HODGES CREEK

2.5 M SE SIKESVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1968 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 19

WATTS ROAD

Poor

Over: NUBBIN CREEK

2.5 MILES N OF WATTS XRDS, Clay, AL

Built 1960 Load: 7.5 t ADT: 20

REC. AREA ROAD

Poor

Over: DRY CREEK - CHEAHA LAKE

9.6 MI N OF S PARK BDRY., Clay, AL

Built 1958 Load: 17.5 t ADT: 167

OLD MILL RD

Poor

Over: CROOKED CREEK

2.0 M SW LINEVILLE, Clay, AL

Built 1964 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 173

SR 77

Poor

Over: WESOBULGA CREEK

5.7 MI W RANDOLPH CO LINE, Clay, AL

Built 1950 Load: 55.2 t ADT: 1,181

BLUFF VALLEY RD

Poor

Over: STREET CREEK

2.0 M SW BLUFF SPRING, Clay, AL

Built 1963 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 233

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.