County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, AL

1,068 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.7% rated Good, 78.1% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

1,068
Public bridges: 19.7%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jefferson County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 1,068
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #29 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Jefferson County, Alabama contains 1,068 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.7% are rated “Good,” 78.1% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

1,068

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

19.7%

210 of 1,068 rated 7-9

Fair condition

78.1%

834 of 1,068 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

24 of 1,068 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 1,068 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.7% (210)

Fair

78.1% (834)

Poor

2.2% (24)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 268,111 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 11,171 crossings a day against 8,372 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 1,053 of 1,068 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.5% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

550 of the 1,068 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 19.7% 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 37% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I - 459 SOUTH over CAHABA RIVER, built 1981, carries 99,312 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 268,111 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

14
1920s

20
1930s

70
1940s

31
1950s

100
1960s

178
1970s

254
1980s

211
1990s

57
2000s

61
2010s

62
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 254 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 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 Jefferson County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County (this page)	1,068	19.7%	78.1%	2.2%	1973
Madison County	710	41.8%	56.9%	1.3%	1972
Mobile County	612	21.1%	76.1%	2.8%	1980
Montgomery County	596	37.9%	59.9%	2.2%	1975
Tuscaloosa County	482	44.6%	54.8%	0.6%	1981
Calhoun County	386	32.9%	63.2%	3.9%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (1,068 bridges here).

Shelby County, TN · 1,077 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · 1,057 bridges
Wayne County, MI · 1,026 bridges
Riverside County, CA · 1,117 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1973 here).

Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · avg 1973 · 740 bridges

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

All 1,068 Good 210 Fair 834 Poor 24

All bridges (1,068)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 268,111 vehicle crossings a day

51.5% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (1,068)

I - 59 NORTH

I - 459 SOUTH

MAYFIELD ROAD

I - 65

LINDALL RD

ENSLEY-PL GROVE RD

RAMP A

STEEPLE CHASE DRIV

RAMP F

POCOHANTAS RD

I - 20 EAST

RAMP E-H

I - 65 SOUTH

I - 20/59 WEST

AL 269 M.P.1.43

I - 65 NORTH

I - 59 SO RAMP

I - 459 SOUTH

I - 459 NORTH

BELMONT ROAD

I65 M.P.258.17

BESSEMER-JOHNS RD

I - 459 NORTH

I - 459 NORTH

KOPPERS STREET

PLEASANT GROVE RD

GLAZE CREEK ROAD

I - 20/59 NORTH

WALKER CHAPEL RD

MORGAN ROAD

I - 20/59

I - 20/59 NORTH

AL - 150

BRADFORD ROAD

I 59/20 SOUTH

I - 459 SOUTH

I - 59 SOUTH

AL - 5 (US 78)

AL - 7 SOUTH

I - 20/59 SOUTH

I - 459 NORTH

LORNA RD

I - 20/59 SOUTH

I - 59 SOUTH

I - 59 NORTH

I - 459 SOUTH

AL - 75

I - 20/59 SOUTH

I 59/20 NORTH

I - 20/59 NORTH

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