County profile · official public datasets

Mobile County, AL

612 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.1% rated Good, 76.1% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

612
Public bridges: 21.1%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Mobile 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 46%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 612
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.

Mobile County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mobile County ranks #31 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Mobile County, Alabama contains 612 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.1% are rated “Good,” 76.1% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

612

Public highway bridges in Mobile County

Good condition

21.1%

129 of 612 rated 7-9

Fair condition

76.1%

466 of 612 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

17 of 612 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 612 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.1% (129)

Fair

76.1% (466)

Poor

2.8% (17)

Mobile County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,988 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,940 crossings a day against 6,342 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 603 of 612 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.5% of Mobile County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

260 of the 612 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 21.1% 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 28.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MCGREGOR AVE over ESLAVA CREEK, built 1964, carries 19,384 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 66,988 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

17
1940s

14
1950s

49
1960s

128
1970s

89
1980s

74
1990s

110
2000s

75
2010s

30
2020s

19

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 128 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 6 years newer than the Alabama average of 1974.

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Mobile County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mobile County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County	710	41.8%	56.9%	1.3%	1972
Mobile County (this page)	612	21.1%	76.1%	2.8%	1980
Montgomery County	596	37.9%	59.9%	2.2%	1975
Tuscaloosa County	482	44.6%	54.8%	0.6%	1981
Calhoun County	386	32.9%	63.2%	3.9%	1969
Baldwin County	381	48.3%	50.4%	1.3%	1991

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (612 bridges here).

Allen County, IN · 613 bridges
Weld County, CO · 614 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · 610 bridges
Monroe County, NY · 615 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 612 Good 129 Fair 466 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (466)

Sort:

Mobile County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mobile County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66,988 vehicle crossings a day

42.5% of Mobile County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mobile 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 (466)

BURMA ROAD

PADGETT SWITCH RD

I-65 SB

I-65

I-65

MCDONALD ROAD

SHELL BELT RD

UNIVERSITY BLVD.

RUSSELL ROAD

I-65 NB

EAST DRIVE

HALL ROAD

MICHIGAN AVE

PLEASANT VALLEY R

KNOLLWOOD DRIVE

HALLS MILL RD

SR 163

COTTAGE HILL ROAD

US 45

US 45

I-10 WB * EB

US 45

I-165 SB SER RD

SR 188

LOCKWOOD DRIVE

SERV RD UNIV SH VI

US 45

COLEMAN DAIRY RD E

UNIVERSITY BLVD

GAILLARD DR

CLEVELAND AVE

US 98

SR 163

OLD SHELL ROAD

I-10 WB * EB

YORKWOOD DRIVE S.

S.R. 158

RODGER PHILLIPS RD

DAVIDSON SCHOOL D

COTTAGE HILL ROAD

US 43

I-10

I-10

I-10

I-10

I-10 WB * RAMP 9

I-10 EB * RAMP 2

I-10 WB * EB

I-10 WB * EB

SALCO ROAD WEST

Related