Total bridges
236
Public highway bridges in Etowah County
County profile · official public datasets
Etowah County, AL
236 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.4% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 2.1% Poor.
- 236
- Public bridges
- 50.4%
- Good condition
- 2.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Etowah County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 37%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 236
- public highway bridges
- 1976
- 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.
Etowah County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Etowah County ranks #25 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.1%). Etowah County, Alabama contains 236 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.4% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 2.1% “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
50.4%
119 of 236 rated 7-9
Fair condition
47.5%
112 of 236 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.1%
5 of 236 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#25 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 236 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 50.4% (119)
Fair 47.5% (112)
Poor 2.1% (5)
Etowah County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,244 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,449 crossings a day against 4,407 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 233 of 236 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
50.4% of Etowah County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
119 of the 236 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 50.4% 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 85.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SUTTON BRIDGE RD. over BIG WILLS CREEK, built 1956, carries 10,500 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 12,244 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Etowah County's bridges were built
236 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 8
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s 17
1930–1939
17 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
43 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
40 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
32 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
26 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
23 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
34 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Alabama average (1974).
How Etowah County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest Etowah County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 5 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston County | 247 | 47.4% | 52.2% | 0.4% | 1978 |
| Cullman County | 246 | 29.3% | 64.6% | 6.1% | 1970 |
| Talladega County | 243 | 44.9% | 51.9% | 3.3% | 1967 |
| Sumter County | 241 | 48.5% | 46.1% | 5.4% | 1969 |
| Etowah County (this page) | 236 | 50.4% | 47.5% | 2.1% | 1976 |
| Pickens County | 233 | 41.6% | 50.2% | 8.2% | 1970 |
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 Etowah 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 Etowah County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (236 bridges here).
- York County, ME · 236 bridges
- Cabarrus County, NC · 236 bridges
- Catawba County, NC · 236 bridges
- Wyandot County, OH · 236 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1976 here).
- Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
- Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
- Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
- Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
MEANS RD.
PoorOver: BLACK CREEK
MEANS RD., Etowah, AL
Built 1928 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 105
SUTTON BRIDGE RD.
PoorOver: BIG WILLS CREEK
@ BLACK CREEK PKWY, Etowah, AL
Built 1956 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 10,500
DEE NIX RD.
PoorOver: LOCUST FORK WARRIOR R
0.24 MI NW OF MOODY CHPL, Etowah, AL
Built 1930 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 119
WHITESBORO RD.
PoorOver: TRIB OF SHORT CREEK
WHITESBORO RD., Etowah, AL
Built 1966 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 110
AL 205
PoorOver: ATN RR
AL 205 * ATN RR, Etowah, AL
Built 1924 Load: 51.9 t ADT: 1,410
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.