County profile · official public datasets

Lee County, AL

214 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.7% rated Good, 57.9% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

214
Public bridges: 40.7%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lee County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 214
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lee County ranks #18 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Lee County, Alabama contains 214 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.7% are rated “Good,” 57.9% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

214

Public highway bridges in Lee County

Good condition

40.7%

87 of 214 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.9%

124 of 214 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

3 of 214 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 214 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.7% (87)

Fair

57.9% (124)

Poor

1.4% (3)

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 76,340 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 25,447 crossings a day against 5,141 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 214 of 214 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.9% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 214 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 40.7% 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 53.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-85 over MOORES MILL CREEK, built 1958, carries 40,660 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 76,340 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

6
1940s

15
1950s

32
1960s

31
1970s

15
1980s

28
1990s

16
2000s

26
2010s

34
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 6 years newer than the Alabama average of 1974.

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Lee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lee County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Coffee County	216	58.3%	41.2%	0.5%	1974
Lawrence County	215	52.1%	45.1%	2.8%	1976
Lee County (this page)	214	40.7%	57.9%	1.4%	1980
Dale County	206	42.7%	57.3%	0%	1973
Geneva County	205	34.6%	62%	3.4%	1976
Russell County	205	34.6%	62.4%	2.9%	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 Lee 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 Lee County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (214 bridges here).

White County, IL · 214 bridges
White County, IN · 214 bridges
Lee County, IA · 214 bridges
Wayne County, MS · 214 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 214 Good 87 Fair 124 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 76,340 vehicle crossings a day

44.9% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 53.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lee 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

Good-condition bridges (87)

Lee Road 137

Lee Road 146

GRAND NAT.PARKWAY

Lee Road 393

AVE "B"

LEE RD.97

Moores Mill Road

Lee Road 334

Lee Road 174

Lee Road 72

LEE CO 146

Lee Road 417

INDIA RD.

Lee Road 182

Lee Road 037

US29 / SR15

JETER AVE

JETER AVE.

FOX TRAIL

Lee Road 217

SOUTH 5TH ST

Lee Road 380

Lee Road 137

CO 43

Lee Road 70

Lee Road 379

PLEASANT DRIVE

Lee Road 252

10TH ST.

Lee Road 240

WHITE ROAD

Lee Road 140

OAK BOWERY RD

Lee Road 236

Lee Road 065

Lee Road 375

Lee Road279

Lee Road 279

Lee Road 54

Lee Road 177

IN-85

Lee Road 379

Cunningham Dr.

N. DONAHUE DRIVE

MOORES MILL DRIVE

DUNLOP DRIVE

Lee Road 10

MU12

GRAND NATIONAL PW

2ND AVE OPELIKA

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