Total bridges
225
Public highway bridges in Dallas County
County profile · official public datasets
Dallas County, AL
225 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.2% rated Good, 70.7% Fair, 3.1% Poor.
- 225
- Public bridges
- 26.2%
- Good condition
- 3.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Dallas County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 36th
- of 67 on Poor share
- 3.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 225
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Dallas County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dallas County ranks #36 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Dallas County, Alabama contains 225 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.2% are rated “Good,” 70.7% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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.
Good condition
26.2%
59 of 225 rated 7-9
Fair condition
70.7%
159 of 225 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.1%
7 of 225 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#36 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 225 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 26.2% (59)
Fair 70.7% (159)
Poor 3.1% (7)
Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,500 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 214 crossings a day against 621 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 225 of 225 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
54.2% of Dallas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
122 of the 225 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 26.2% 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 70% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
HARRISON AVENUE over BEECH CREEK, built 1953, carries 1,050 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,500 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Dallas County's bridges were built
225 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
17 bridges
- 1940s 14
1940–1949
14 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
24 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
27 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
35 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
24 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s 4
2010–2019
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Alabama average (1974).
How Dallas County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest Dallas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etowah County | 236 | 50.4% | 47.5% | 2.1% | 1976 |
| Pickens County | 233 | 41.6% | 50.2% | 8.2% | 1970 |
| Dallas County (this page) | 225 | 26.2% | 70.7% | 3.1% | 1971 |
| Conecuh County | 224 | 24.1% | 69.6% | 6.3% | 1977 |
| Coffee County | 216 | 58.3% | 41.2% | 0.5% | 1974 |
| Lawrence County | 215 | 52.1% | 45.1% | 2.8% | 1976 |
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 Dallas 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 Dallas County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (225 bridges here).
- Madison County, IA · 225 bridges
- Mahaska County, IA · 225 bridges
- Lincoln County, KS · 225 bridges
- Lenawee County, MI · 225 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (159)
AL 22
FairOver: BRANCH
0.1MI.E.AL.219, Dallas, AL
Built 1927 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 5,230
AL 22
FairOver: JONES CREEK
2.5 MI. E.AL.219, Dallas, AL
Built 1927 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 8,450
AL 22
FairOver: BRANCH
9.8MI.W.CHILTONCO. LINE, Dallas, AL
Built 1965 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 2,690
AL 22
FairOver: BRANCH
0.8MI.W.CHILTONCO.LINE, Dallas, AL
Built 1968 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 2,540
US 80
FairOver: BRANCH
2.8 MI.W.OF AL 219, Dallas, AL
Built 1982 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 5,790
US 80
FairOver: GILMER BRANCH
6.3 MI E OF AL 5, Dallas, AL
Built 1983 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 3,890
US 80
FairOver: BOGUE CHITTO CREEK RELIE
1.1 MI.E.OF AL.5, Dallas, AL
Built 1933 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 2,080
US 80 EBL
FairOver: KENDRICKS BRANCH
3.9 MI. E.OF AL.5, Dallas, AL
Built 1986 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 1,945
AL 41
FairOver: PINE FLAT CREEK
2.5 MI. N. SARDIS, Dallas, AL
Built 2004 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 2,940
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.