County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, AL

194 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.3% rated Good, 50.5% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

194
Public bridges: 44.3%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

49th
of 67 on Poor share: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 194
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #49 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Franklin County, Alabama contains 194 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.3% are rated “Good,” 50.5% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

194

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

44.3%

86 of 194 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.5%

98 of 194 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

10 of 194 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 194 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.3% (86)

Fair

50.5% (98)

Poor

5.2% (10)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,560 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,256 crossings a day against 1,227 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 194 of 194 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

95 of the 194 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 44.3% 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 53.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 24 over TOWN BRANCH, built 1975, carries 6,700 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,560 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

10
1940s

5
1950s

29
1960s

34
1970s

25
1980s

15
1990s

33
2000s

23
2010s

11
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Franklin County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Elmore County	202	29.2%	67.8%	3%	1980
Escambia County	200	21.5%	77%	1.5%	1973
Franklin County (this page)	194	44.3%	50.5%	5.2%	1975
Barbour County	192	55.7%	41.1%	3.1%	1976
Butler County	189	27%	72%	1.1%	1976
Chilton County	189	50.3%	48.7%	1.1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (194 bridges here).

Poinsett County, AR · 194 bridges
Trinity County, CA · 194 bridges
Colquitt County, GA · 194 bridges
Adams County, IN · 194 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 194 Good 86 Fair 98 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (86)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,560 vehicle crossings a day

49% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 53.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (86)

CO RD 84

CO RD 177

CO. RD 89

CO. RD. 60

SR 24

SR 24

SR 247

SR 19

SR 24

SR 24

COUNTY ROAD 11

CO RD 80

CO RD 1

SR 24

CO. RD. 524

CO RD 64

COUNTY ROAD 9

C0 RD 93

SR 24

CO RD 49

CO RD 15

SR 24

CO. RD. 78

CO RD 36

CO RD 23

CO RD 73

CO. RD. 58

CO RD 11

CO RD 46

CO. RD. 41

CO RD 77

CO RD 42

SR 187

CO. RD. 90

CO. RD.9

CO. RD. 22

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