County profile · official public datasets

Cleburne County, AL

165 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.1% rated Good, 61.8% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

165
Public bridges: 32.1%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

54th
of 67 on Poor share: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 165
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.

Cleburne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cleburne County ranks #54 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Cleburne County, Alabama contains 165 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.1% are rated “Good,” 61.8% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

165

Public highway bridges in Cleburne County

Good condition

32.1%

53 of 165 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.8%

102 of 165 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

10 of 165 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 165 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32.1% (53)

Fair

61.8% (102)

Poor

6.1% (10)

Cleburne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 858 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 86 crossings a day against 700 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 165 of 165 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.2% of Cleburne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 165 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 32.1% 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 52.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CO 65 over Muscadine CREEK, built 1957, carries 450 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 858 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

12
1930s

5
1940s

13
1950s

23
1960s

15
1970s

40
1980s

11
1990s

9
2000s

21
2010s

10
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Cleburne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 5th-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 Cleburne County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pike County	169	59.8%	39.1%	1.2%	1975
Wilcox County	168	29.2%	57.1%	13.7%	1974
Cherokee County	167	29.3%	70.7%	0%	1960
Randolph County	165	37.6%	57.6%	4.8%	1968
Cleburne County (this page)	165	32.1%	61.8%	6.1%	1973
Perry County	162	19.8%	75.9%	4.3%	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 Cleburne 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 Cleburne County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (165 bridges here).

Plumas County, CA · 165 bridges
Leon County, FL · 165 bridges
Hamilton County, IL · 165 bridges
Lawrence County, IN · 165 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 165 Good 53 Fair 102 Poor 10

All bridges (165)

Sort:

Cleburne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cleburne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 858 vehicle crossings a day

58.2% of Cleburne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cleburne 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

All bridges (165)

I-20

I-20

SR 281

I-20

CO 19

SR4 / US 78

C0 114

CO 43

CO 14

SR4/US78

I-20

CO 431

SR 281

CO 640

SR4/US78

CO 19

SR4 / US 78

SR46

CO21-PERRYMAN RD

CO 84

CR 863

SR 9

SR 46

CO. RD.37

I-20

I-20

SR 46

CO RD 66

CO RD 62

SR 46

I-20

I-20

CO 19

SR4/US78

C0 642

SR 9

CO 24

SR4/US78

CO 49

SR4 / US78

CO 19

SR 9

SR1 / US 431

SR4/US78

SR 46

SR1 / US 431

CO 49

I-20

I-20

I-20

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