County profile · official public datasets

Coffee County, AL

216 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.3% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 0.5% Poor.

216
Public bridges: 58.3%
Good condition: 0.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Coffee County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 9%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.5%
Poor-condition share: 216
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Coffee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Coffee County ranks #6 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.5%). Coffee County, Alabama contains 216 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.3% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 0.5% “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

216

Public highway bridges in Coffee County

Good condition

58.3%

126 of 216 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.2%

89 of 216 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.5%

1 of 216 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 216 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.3% (126)

Fair

41.2% (89)

Poor

0.5% (1)

Coffee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 42 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 42 crossings a day against 933 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 216 of 216 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.2% of Coffee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

130 of the 216 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 58.3% 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.

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

DIRT RD .7 MI S 84 over DOUBLE BRIDGES CREEK, built 1988, carries 42 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 42 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

3
1940s

7
1950s

42
1960s

53
1970s

26
1980s

27
1990s

24
2000s

14
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Coffee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Coffee County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dallas County	225	26.2%	70.7%	3.1%	1971
Conecuh County	224	24.1%	69.6%	6.3%	1977
Coffee County (this page)	216	58.3%	41.2%	0.5%	1974
Lawrence County	215	52.1%	45.1%	2.8%	1976
Lee County	214	40.7%	57.9%	1.4%	1980
Dale County	206	42.7%	57.3%	0%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (216 bridges here).

Miller County, AR · 216 bridges
Ascension County, LA · 216 bridges
Clinton County, MI · 216 bridges
Choctaw County, OK · 216 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 216 Good 126 Fair 89 Poor 1

Fair-condition bridges (89)

Sort:

Coffee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Coffee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 42 vehicle crossings a day

60.2% of Coffee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Coffee 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

Fair-condition bridges (89)

US 84 MP 163.869

CO RT 365

CO RT 721

SR 134 MP 24.450

CO RT 636

CO RT 606

CO RT 450

CO RT 315

CO RT 537

CO RT 354

SR. 189 MP 7.386

CO RT 107

CO RT 107

SR 134 MP 15.930

DIXIE DRIVE

SR 189 MP 1.068

SR 189 MP 6.385

CO RT 661

CO RD 460

CO RT 330

CO RT 636

CO RT 636

CO RT 708

CO RT 205

CO RT 606

CO RT 239

CO RT 427

CO RT 620

SR 27 MP 30.974

US 84 MP 160.922

SR 189 MP 12.613

SR 87 MP 39.688

SR 189 MP 14.802

CO RT 157

CO RT 474

SR 167 MP 36.943

CO RT 474

US 84 MP 180.508

US 84 MP 183.610

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