Total bridges
324
Public highway bridges in Limestone County
County profile · official public datasets
Limestone County, AL
324 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.1% rated Good, 52.8% Fair, 2.2% Poor.
- 324
- Public bridges
- 45.1%
- Good condition
- 2.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Limestone County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 39%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 324
- public highway bridges
- 1972
- 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.
Limestone County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Limestone County ranks #26 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Limestone County, Alabama contains 324 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.1% are rated “Good,” 52.8% “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.
Good condition
45.1%
146 of 324 rated 7-9
Fair condition
52.8%
171 of 324 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.2%
7 of 324 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#26 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 324 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 45.1% (146)
Fair 52.8% (171)
Poor 2.2% (7)
Limestone County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,045 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 149 crossings a day against 2,633 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 324 of 324 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
60.5% of Limestone County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
196 of the 324 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 45.1% 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 28.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
PETTUSVILLE RD over BRANCH, built 1952, carries 300 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,045 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Limestone County's bridges were built
324 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s 11
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
32 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
61 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
64 bridges
- 1970s 24
1970–1979
24 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
28 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
34 bridges
- 2000s 21
2000–2009
21 bridges
- 2010s 16
2010–2019
16 bridges
- 2020s 20
2020–2029
20 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Alabama average (1974).
How Limestone County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest Limestone County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby County | 344 | 41% | 58.1% | 0.9% | 1981 |
| Covington County | 332 | 31.9% | 63% | 5.1% | 1970 |
| Limestone County (this page) | 324 | 45.1% | 52.8% | 2.2% | 1972 |
| Jackson County | 314 | 29% | 67.2% | 3.8% | 1961 |
| DeKalb County | 300 | 31.3% | 62% | 6.7% | 1967 |
| Walker County | 275 | 36.4% | 58.2% | 5.5% | 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 Limestone 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 Limestone County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (324 bridges here).
- Marion County, KS · 324 bridges
- Miami County, KS · 326 bridges
- Montgomery County, KS · 326 bridges
- Merrimack County, NH · 326 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1972 here).
- Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
- Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
- York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
- Middlesex County, NJ · avg 1972 · 563 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (171)
SANDIFER RD E
FairOver: TOWN CREEK
.2 MI E US 31 ON SANDIFER, Limestone, AL
Built 1974 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 112
FORREST ST
FairOver: TOWN CREEK
FORREST ST * JEFFERSON ST, Limestone, AL
Built 1984 Load: 45.5 t ADT: 2,178
I 565
FairOver: WITHERS SPRING BRANCH
6.4 M E JCT I 565 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1988 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 53,280
SR 251
FairOver: SWAN CREEK
0.1 M S JCT SR251 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1926 Load: 45.9 t ADT: 7,620
SR 251
FairOver: PINEY CREEK
2.9 M N JCT SR251 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1926 Load: 45.9 t ADT: 5,510
I 65
FairOver: I 565
JCT I 65 & I 565, Limestone, AL
Built 1990 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 5,318
FORREST ST
FairOver: I 65
1 M N JCT SR 2 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1969 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 11,128
SR 2
FairOver: I 65
JCT SR 2 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1969 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 16,400
SR 2
FairOver: I 65
JCT SR 2 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1969 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 16,400
NEW CUT RD
FairOver: ROUND ISLAND CR
SEC36 T2S R5W, Limestone, AL
Built 1967 Load: 49.7 t ADT: 2,200
South Rd.
FairOver: PINEY CR
SEC4 T2S R3W, Limestone, AL
Built 1960 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 250
SR 3
FairOver: BRANCH
3 MI S JCT SR 3 & SR 2, Limestone, AL
Built 1957 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 12,600
SR 3
FairOver: BRANCH
1 MI N JCT SR 3 & SR 2, Limestone, AL
Built 1955 Load: 63.7 t ADT: 19,490
SR 2
FairOver: TOWN CREEK
0.7 MI W JCT SR 2 & SR 3, Limestone, AL
Built 1956 Load: 67.9 t ADT: 31,750
SR 251
FairOver: BRANCH
6.5 M N JCT SR251 & I 65, Limestone, AL
Built 1926 Load: 70.6 t ADT: 3,420
ED RAY RD
FairOver: COPELAND BR
SEC33 T2S R3W, Limestone, AL
Built 1970 Load: 73.5 t ADT: 253
SOUTH JEFFERSON S
FairOver: BRANCH
0.1 MI SOUTH US 72, Limestone, AL
Built 1987 Load: 74.4 t ADT: 1,629
SEGERS RD
FairOver: MOORE BR
SEC11 T4S R3W, Limestone, AL
Built 1954 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 2,487
SR 2
FairOver: DRY CREEK
6.2 M E JCT SR 2 & SR207, Limestone, AL
Built 1924 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 10,790
I 65
FairOver: BRANCH
2 MI N JCT I 65 & SR 2, Limestone, AL
Built 1969 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 22,730
I 65
FairOver: BRANCH
1 MI N JCT I 65 & SR 251, Limestone, AL
Built 1969 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 22,730
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.