County profile · official public datasets

Lauderdale County, AL

266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.9% rated Good, 49.6% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

266
Public bridges: 45.9%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 67 on Poor share: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 266
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Lauderdale County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lauderdale County ranks #45 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Lauderdale County, Alabama contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.9% are rated “Good,” 49.6% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

266

Public highway bridges in Lauderdale County

Good condition

45.9%

122 of 266 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.6%

132 of 266 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

12 of 266 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 266 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.9% (122)

Fair

49.6% (132)

Poor

4.5% (12)

Lauderdale County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,753 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 146 crossings a day against 1,744 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 266 of 266 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.5% of Lauderdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

121 of the 266 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 45.9% 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 28.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CO 27 over ST. FLORIAN BRANCH, built 1937, carries 500 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 1,753 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

9
1930s

50
1940s

19
1950s

14
1960s

17
1970s

19
1980s

20
1990s

29
2000s

49
2010s

31
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Lauderdale County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 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 Lauderdale County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Walker County	275	36.4%	58.2%	5.5%	1974
Morgan County	271	39.1%	59.4%	1.5%	1977
Lauderdale County (this page)	266	45.9%	49.6%	4.5%	1976
Marion County	255	38.4%	60.8%	0.8%	1974
Houston County	247	47.4%	52.2%	0.4%	1978
Cullman County	246	29.3%	64.6%	6.1%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (266 bridges here).

Wayne County, IL · 266 bridges
Bremer County, IA · 266 bridges
Cerro Gordo County, IA · 266 bridges
Republic County, KS · 266 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 266 Good 122 Fair 132 Poor 12

Fair-condition bridges (132)

Sort:

Lauderdale County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lauderdale County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,753 vehicle crossings a day

45.5% of Lauderdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lauderdale 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 (132)

CO 139

CO RT 15

SR 64

SR 2

SR 2

SR 64

CO RT 47

CO RT 30

CO RT 277

SR 157

CO RT 36

CO 38

SR 2

SR 101

SR 157

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

SR 17

SR 2

SR 2

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

CO RT 6

CO 136

SR 2

NATCHEZ TRACE PARK

SR 157

SR 17

CO RT 47

SR 2

SR 2

SR 2

VETERANS DR.

HUNTSVILLE ROAD

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