County profile · official public datasets

Colbert County, AL

172 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.4% rated Good, 66.9% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

172
Public bridges: 31.4%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 34%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 172
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Colbert County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Colbert County ranks #23 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Colbert County, Alabama contains 172 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.4% are rated “Good,” 66.9% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

172

Public highway bridges in Colbert County

Good condition

31.4%

54 of 172 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.9%

115 of 172 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

3 of 172 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 172 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.4% (54)

Fair

66.9% (115)

Poor

1.7% (3)

Colbert County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,156 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 719 crossings a day against 3,971 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 172 of 172 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.2% of Colbert County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 172 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 31.4% 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 71.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FRANKFORT RD over THROCKMORTON BRANCH, built 1940, carries 1,550 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,156 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

17
1940s

10
1950s

20
1960s

25
1970s

18
1980s

35
1990s

19
2000s

20
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Colbert County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Colbert County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hale County	177	49.2%	45.8%	5.1%	1972
Marshall County	172	38.4%	52.9%	8.7%	1970
Colbert County (this page)	172	31.4%	66.9%	1.7%	1972
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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (172 bridges here).

Moultrie County, IL · 172 bridges
Newton County, IN · 172 bridges
Pike County, IN · 172 bridges
Houston County, MN · 172 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
Middlesex County, NJ · avg 1972 · 563 bridges

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

All 172 Good 54 Fair 115 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (54)

Sort:

Colbert County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Colbert County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,156 vehicle crossings a day

51.2% of Colbert County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 71.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Colbert 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 (54)

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

SR 247

SR 133

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

SR 133

SR 157

SR 133

SR 157

MULBERRY LN

HENRY RD

OLD LEE HWY

PATRICK LN

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

MAUD RD

COUNTY LINE RD

SR 20

ALLSBORO RD

FRANKFORT RD

COUNTY LINE RD

VANDIVER HOLLOW RD

CR 312

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

MT HESTER RD

SR 2

SOCKWELL LN

POPLAR CREEK LP

WHITE PKE

S HOOK ST

HALEY DR

SR 2

SR 2

MT HESTER RD

SR 2

SR 184

UNDERWOOD MTN RD

SR 2

ASPHALT ROCK RD

SR 20

FRANKFORT RD

ALLSBORO RD

FULLER STORE RD

SHAW RD

SR 13

SR 2

SR 133

SR 184

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