County profile · official public datasets

Houston County, AL

247 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.4% rated Good, 52.2% Fair, 0.4% Poor.

247
Public bridges: 47.4%
Good condition: 0.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Houston County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 7%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.4%
Poor-condition share: 247
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Houston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Houston County ranks #5 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.4%). Houston County, Alabama contains 247 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.4% are rated “Good,” 52.2% “Fair,” and 0.4% “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

247

Public highway bridges in Houston County

Good condition

47.4%

117 of 247 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.2%

129 of 247 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.4%

1 of 247 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 247 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.4% (117)

Fair

52.2% (129)

Poor

0.4% (1)

Houston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 95 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 95 crossings a day against 2,251 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 247 of 247 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.5% of Houston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

110 of the 247 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 47.4% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WILLIE RALEY RD over BEAVER CREEK, built 1990, carries 95 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 95 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

1
1940s

5
1950s

37
1960s

41
1970s

30
1980s

39
1990s

37
2000s

42
2010s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Houston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Houston County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Marion County	255	38.4%	60.8%	0.8%	1974
Houston County (this page)	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	236	50.4%	47.5%	2.1%	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 Houston 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 Houston County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (247 bridges here).

Madera County, CA · 247 bridges
Shelby County, IN · 247 bridges
Chickasaw County, MS · 247 bridges
New York County, NY · 247 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 247 Good 117 Fair 129 Poor 1

All bridges (247)

Sort:

Houston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Houston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 95 vehicle crossings a day

44.5% of Houston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Houston 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

All bridges (247)

N CO RD 75

CO RD 63

CREEK CHURCH RD

HARVEY HICKS RD

SR 92 MP 7.828

FLYNN ROAD

CO RD 57

SO CO RD 33

W. SAUNDERS RD.

SR 52 MP 76.216

SR 109 MP 5.820

SR 109 MP 8.817

SR 52 MP 62.025

FLETCHER SMITH RD

COUNTY ROAD 203

SANITARY DAIRY RD

GILLEY MILL RD

LUCY GRADE RD

EDGAR SMITH RD

CO RD 8

SOUTH PARK AVENUE

US84/ SR 38

BROOKSIDE DRIVE

SR 52 MP 60.593

D. HODGE RD

Denton rd

CO RD 75

SUNSET DRIVE

JOHN D ODOM ROAD

EAST COOK ROAD

PILGRIM CH. RD.

PAUL LAMP ROAD

AL 605

DANFORD RD

DENTON RD

E.BURDESHAW AVE.

BLUFF SPRINGS RD

GROVE ST

WATSON BRIDGE RD

BLUFF SPRINGS RD

OMUSSEE RD

CO RD 8

D. HODGE ROAD

SR 53 MP 4.856

MACEDONIA CH RD

CO RD 24

COUNTY ROAD #22

CO RD 32

BARKSDALE RD

LUCY GRADE RD

Related