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.

When Jefferson County's bridges were built

1,068 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Jefferson County (this page) 1,068 2.2%
Madison County 710 1.3%
Mobile County 612 2.8%
Montgomery County 596 2.2%
Tuscaloosa County 482 0.6%
Calhoun County 386 3.9%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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)

11TH CT N

Poor

Over: RR (ABANDONED)

11TH CT * 3rd St, Jefferson, AL

Built 1940 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 1,000

CALDWELL MILL RD

Poor

Over: CAHABA RIVER TRIBUTART

1/2 MI S ACTON ROAD, Jefferson, AL

Built 1960 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 875

OLD LOONEY MILL RD

Poor

Over: CABAHA RIVER TRIBUTARY

ACTON, Jefferson, AL

Built 1950 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 509

CHARLES HAMILTON R

Poor

Over: FIVE MILE CREEK

0.5 MI E OLD TUSC HWY, Jefferson, AL

Built 1955 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 500

BAILEY ROAD

Poor

Over: LITTLE CAHABA RIVER

0.4 MI MW AL 119, Jefferson, AL

Built 1950 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 92

2 ND AVE NO

Poor

Over: HALLS CREEK

2 ND AVE N * 11 TH ST, Jefferson, AL

Built 1935 Load: 6.6 t ADT: 1,500

BROOKWOOD GREEN TR

Poor

Over: LITTLE SHADES CREEK

150 E HWY 280 CAHABA HTS, Jefferson, AL

Built 1950 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 323

22ND ST

Poor

Over: Rotary Trail Park

22ND ST * 1ST AVE S, Jefferson, AL

Built 1910 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 13,000

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: BLACK CREEK TRIBUTARY

.75 MILE N. OF FULTONDALE, Jefferson, AL

Built 1935 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 1,400

ASPEN AVE

Poor

Over: BRANCH

ASPEN AVE * WIGGINS PARK, Jefferson, AL

Built 1936 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 100

CANTERBURY ROAD

Poor

Over: WATKINS CREEK

Canterbury Road *Creek, Jefferson, AL

Built 1945 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 2,015

CHERRY TREE LANE

Poor

Over: LITTLE SHADES CREEK

100 FT N JANNEBO, Jefferson, AL

Built 1971 Load: 13.8 t ADT: 75

I - 20/59 SOUTH

Poor

Over: ARRON ARONOV DRIVE

I 59 * ARRON ARONOV DR., Jefferson, AL

Built 1968 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 41,990

I - 20/59 NORTH

Poor

Over: AARON ARONOV DRIVE

I 59 * ARRON ARONOV DR., Jefferson, AL

Built 1968 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 41,990

AL - 150

Poor

Over: LIL SHADES CK

AL - 150 * LIL SHADES CK, Jefferson, AL

Built 1945 Load: 30.7 t ADT: 12,820

AL - 269

Poor

Over: LOCUST FK WARRIOR RV

AL 269 * ATWOOD FERRY, Jefferson, AL

Built 1966 Load: 32.5 t ADT: 2,070

I - 459 SOUTH

Poor

Over: CAHABA RIVER

I459 * CAHABA RIVER, Jefferson, AL

Built 1981 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 99,312

AL - 5 (US 11)

Poor

Over: OPOSSUM CREEK

@ BESSEMER PLAZA MALL, Jefferson, AL

Built 1955 Load: 88.7 t ADT: 19,500

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.