County profile · official public datasets

DeKalb County, AL

300 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.3% rated Good, 62% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

300
Public bridges: 31.3%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

DeKalb 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.

57th
of 67 on Poor share: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 300
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

DeKalb County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, DeKalb County ranks #57 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). DeKalb County, Alabama contains 300 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.3% are rated “Good,” 62% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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

300

Public highway bridges in DeKalb County

Good condition

31.3%

94 of 300 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62%

186 of 300 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

20 of 300 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 300 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.3% (94)

Fair

62% (186)

Poor

6.7% (20)

DeKalb County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,355 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 118 crossings a day against 2,655 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 300 of 300 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.3% of DeKalb County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

208 of the 300 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 31.3% 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 22.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY ROAD 43 over REEDY CREEK, built 1970, carries 534 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,355 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

4
1920s

15
1930s

10
1940s

20
1950s

52
1960s

88
1970s

29
1980s

22
1990s

27
2000s

22
2010s

6
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 88 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 7 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest DeKalb County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for DeKalb County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Covington County	332	31.9%	63%	5.1%	1970
Limestone County	324	45.1%	52.8%	2.2%	1972
Jackson County	314	29%	67.2%	3.8%	1961
DeKalb County (this page)	300	31.3%	62%	6.7%	1967
Walker County	275	36.4%	58.2%	5.5%	1974
Morgan County	271	39.1%	59.4%	1.5%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (300 bridges here).

Christian County, KY · 300 bridges
Washington County, MD · 300 bridges
Newton County, MO · 300 bridges
Dawson County, NE · 300 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 300 Good 94 Fair 186 Poor 20

Fair-condition bridges (186)

Sort:

DeKalb County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

DeKalb County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,355 vehicle crossings a day

69.3% of DeKalb County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How DeKalb 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 (186)

SR 35

US11

GEORGE WALLACE DR

FAS 23 CO RD 89

FAS 14 CO RD 400

FAS 12 CO RD 20

FAS 14 CO RD 843

I-59

I-59

I59

CO RD 92

FAS 27 CO RD 137

CO RT 169

US11

SR 75

SR 40

CO RD 280

SR 35

RAMP SR35 TO I59

US 11

SR 117

I59

I59

I59

CO RD 141

CO RD 3

FAS 31 CO RD 140

I-59

I-59

I-59

CO RD 44

CO. RT. NO 400

SR 176

CO. RD. 727

CO. RD. 667

CR 120

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