County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, AL

314 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29% rated Good, 67.2% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

314
Public bridges: 29%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson 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.

41st
of 67 on Poor share: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 314
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #41 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Jackson County, Alabama contains 314 public highway bridges. Roughly 29% are rated “Good,” 67.2% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

314

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

29%

91 of 314 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.2%

211 of 314 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

12 of 314 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 314 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29% (91)

Fair

67.2% (211)

Poor

3.8% (12)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,409 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 201 crossings a day against 3,422 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 314 of 314 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.9% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

207 of the 314 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 29% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OLD MT CARMEL RD over BENGESS CREEK, built 1965, carries 720 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,409 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

23
1930s

80
1940s

14
1950s

36
1960s

30
1970s

49
1980s

31
1990s

27
2000s

11
2010s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 80 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 13 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Shelby County	344	41%	58.1%	0.9%	1981
Covington County	332	31.9%	63%	5.1%	1970
Limestone County	324	45.1%	52.8%	2.2%	1972
Jackson County (this page)	314	29%	67.2%	3.8%	1961
DeKalb County	300	31.3%	62%	6.7%	1967
Walker County	275	36.4%	58.2%	5.5%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (314 bridges here).

Cloud County, KS · 314 bridges
Douglas County, KS · 314 bridges
Franklin County, MA · 314 bridges
Audrain County, MO · 314 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 314 Good 91 Fair 211 Poor 12

Fair-condition bridges (211)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,409 vehicle crossings a day

65.9% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (211)

CO RD 395

CR 365

CO RT 01

CO RT 66

CR 14

CO RT 1

CO RD 563

CO RT 91

CR 53

CO RD 32

CO RT 28

CO RT 04

CR 45

CR 39

CO RT 42

Old Larkinsville

CR 53

CO RD 507

CO RT 167

CO RT 88

CO RT 260

CO RD 42

CO RT 177

CO. RT. 42

CO RT 108

JC27

SR 117

SR 146

CR 53

CO 134

CO RT 349

CO RT 53

CO RT 30

CR 55

CR 148

SR 117

CR 38

CO RT 43

CO RT 43

SR 65

SR 65

SR 40

SR 40

GARLAND FERRY RD

CO RT 43

CR 56

CO RT 88

CO RD 75

COUNTY ROAD 9

CO RT 19

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