Total bridges
266
Public highway bridges in Lauderdale County
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.
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.
When Lauderdale County's bridges were built
266 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 9
1920–1929
9 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
50 bridges
- 1940s 19
1940–1949
19 bridges
- 1950s 14
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s 17
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s 19
1970–1979
19 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
20 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
29 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
49 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
31 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (266)
CO RT 6
GoodOver: IJAMS BRANCH
0.8 MI W INT CO RT 7, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1995 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 255
NATCHEZ TRACE PARK
GoodOver: COUNTY ROAD 2
8.09 MILES NORTH OF U.S., Lauderdale, AL
Built 1964 Load: 82.5 t ADT: 670
CO RT 8
GoodOver: CYPRESS CREEK RELIEF 1
1.3 MI W INT AL 157, Lauderdale, AL
Built 2005 Load: 87.3 t ADT: 900
CO RT 51
GoodOver: SIMPSON BRANCH
0.1 MI N INT US 72, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1993 Load: 88.6 t ADT: 330
CO. 153
PoorOver: COTTS CREEK
0.4 MI SE INT CO 59, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 25
UNPAVED RD
PoorOver: WEST FORK ANDERSON CREEK
0.3 MI E INT CO 134, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1936 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 25
CO 258
PoorOver: BRANCH
0.3 MI W OF CO 10, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 92
CO 111
PoorOver: DRY BRANCH
0.7 MI NE OF CO 33, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1927 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 76
CO RD # 188
PoorOver: SINKING CREEK
0.4 MI OF CO 4, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 40
CO RD 180
PoorOver: SINKING CREEK
0.9 MI W CO RT 4, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 25
UNPAVED RD
PoorOver: MANBONE CREEK
0.1 MI E CO 90, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 40
CO 4
PoorOver: BRANCH
1.1 MI W INT CO 15, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1947 Load: 3.6 t ADT: 65
CO 27
PoorOver: ST. FLORIAN BRANCH
1.5 MI N INT US 72, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 500
CO 88
PoorOver: SECOND CREEK
1.8 MI E CO 88, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 8.4 t ADT: 232
CO 49
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK BRANCH
2.3 MI N INT SR 207, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 180
CO 88
PoorOver: SECOND CREEK RELIEF
1.8 MI E CO 51, Lauderdale, AL
Built 1937 Load: 10.9 t ADT: 453
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.