County profile · official public datasets

Shelby County, AL

344 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

344
Public bridges
41%
Good condition
0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Shelby County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state
0.9%
Poor-condition share
344
public highway bridges
1981
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.

Shelby County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shelby County ranks #10 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Shelby County, Alabama contains 344 public highway bridges. Roughly 41% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “Fair,” and 0.9% “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

344

Public highway bridges in Shelby County

Good condition

41%

141 of 344 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.1%

200 of 344 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

3 of 344 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 344 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
41% (141)
Fair
58.1% (200)
Poor
0.9% (3)

Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,411 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,804 crossings a day against 2,663 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 344 of 344 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.3% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

111 of the 344 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 41% 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 96.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

AL - 3 NORTH over PEAVINE CK * ACL RR, built 1924, carries 28,511 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 29,411 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Shelby County's bridges were built

344 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 7 years newer than the Alabama average of 1974.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Shelby County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Shelby County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Calhoun County 386 3.9%
Baldwin County 381 1.3%
Shelby County (this page) 344 0.9%
Covington County 332 5.1%
Limestone County 324 2.2%
Jackson County 314 3.8%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (344 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1981 here).

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

All 344 Good 141 Fair 200 Poor 3

All bridges (344)

CO. HWY. 49

Good

Over: YELLOWLEAF CREEK

0.7 MI. NORTH CR 109, Shelby, AL

Built 1985 Load: 44.2 t ADT: 700

CO HWY 266

Good

Over: BEAVERDAM CREEK

0.1MI W JCT CO 17, Shelby, AL

Built 1997 Load: 44.2 t ADT: 705

CO. HWY. 340

Good

Over: BUCK CREEK

0.25 MI E JCT ST 31, Shelby, AL

Built 2000 Load: 44.2 t ADT: 1,200

CO. HWY. 74

Good

Over: BOLIVER CREEK

0.3 MI. W. JCT. CO. 69, Shelby, AL

Built 1990 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 400

COUNTY ROAD 17

Good

Over: CUNNINGHAM BRANCH

1.1 MI. NO. CR 22, Shelby, AL

Built 2005 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 3,736

1ST STREET S.W.

Good

Over: BRANCH

0.1 MI SO US 31 ALABASTER, Shelby, AL

Built 1982 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 3,200

County Road 55

Good

Over: Muddy Prong Creek

1150 south US 280, Shelby, AL

Built 2016 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 2,356

STONE CREEK PL

Good

Over: UT TO SPRING CREEK

STONE CREEK SUBDIVISION, Shelby, AL

Built 2006 Load: 47.4 t ADT: 200

NORMAN WAY

Good

Over: UT TO FOWLER LAKE

DUNNAVANT SQUARE SUB, Shelby, AL

Built 2007 Load: 50.1 t ADT: 100

MONAGHAN DRIVE

Good

Over: UT TO FOWLER LAKE

DUNNAVANT SQ SUB, Shelby, AL

Built 2007 Load: 50.1 t ADT: 100

AL - 119

Good

Over: BUCK CREEK

ALABASTER 0.5MI. NO. CR26, Shelby, AL

Built 2002 Load: 50.3 t ADT: 23,590

CR 39

Good

Over: TOMS CREEK

0.54 MI. SO. CR 74, Shelby, AL

Built 2006 Load: 50.3 t ADT: 550

CO HWY 34

Good

Over: N FORK WOLF CREEK

3.4 MI W JCT ST 25, Shelby, AL

Built 1995 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 500

CR 434

Good

Over: W. FORK TANYARD BRANCH

0.4 MI WEST AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 2007 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 100

COUNTY ROAD 95

Good

Over: LEE BROOK

INT. OF CO. RD.95 AND 52, Shelby, AL

Built 2001 Load: 51.1 t ADT: 10,766

CO. HWY. 280

Good

Over: BRANCH

.3 MI EAST CO 39, Shelby, AL

Built 1931 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 1,000

REGENT PARK DRIVE

Good

Over: UT TO FOWLER LAKE

80 WEST CR 41, Shelby, AL

Built 2005 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 250

AL - 25

Good

Over: BULLEY CREEK

AL - 25 / BULLEY CREEK, Shelby, AL

Built 2019 Load: 52.3 t ADT: 5,310

AL-53 (US-231)

Good

Over: KELLY CREEK

1.4 MI SO ST CLAIR CO LN, Shelby, AL

Built 2017 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 4,370

CO. HWY. 49

Good

Over: FOURMILE CK

2.3 MI NO JCT AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 1984 Load: 53.3 t ADT: 384

DEAD HOLLOW ROAD

Good

Over: MORGAN CREEK

.5 MI. W JCT. ST 25, Shelby, AL

Built 1998 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 202

KILKERRAN LANE

Good

Over: SPILLWAY FOR LAKE

NE QUADRANT GOLF COURSE, Shelby, AL

Built 2003 Load: 55.0 t ADT: 862

CR 444

Good

Over: TANYARD BRANCH

.25 MI. FROM AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 2004 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 250

CO. HWY. 26

Good

Over: N.FORK BIG CREEK

5.25M. NW. JCT ST. HWY 70, Shelby, AL

Built 1992 Load: 55.8 t ADT: 4,500

CO RD 39

Good

Over: HOLLVER BRANCH

AT CHELSEA PARK, Shelby, AL

Built 2001 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 2,000

RIVERWOODS PARKWAY

Good

Over: CSX RAILROAD

RIVERWOODS SUBDIVISION, Shelby, AL

Built 2003 Load: 58.6 t ADT: 150

County Road 24

Good

Over: Spring Creek

CR 24 over Spring Creek, Shelby, AL

Built 2022 Load: 58.9 t ADT: 2,320

CO. HWY. 280

Good

Over: LITTLE CREEK

0.2 MI E MT SIGNAL CHURCH, Shelby, AL

Built 1931 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 1,000

SUBDIVISION ROAD

Good

Over: CSX RAILROAD

0.2 MILE FROM CR 11, Shelby, AL

Built 2006 Load: 60.6 t ADT: 653

County Road 52

Good

Over: Buck Creek

CR 52 over Buck Creek, Shelby, AL

Built 2022 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 12,816

CR 12

Good

Over: DRY CREEK

1.5 MI EAST AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 2014 Load: 64.7 t ADT: 4,182

CR 441

Good

Over: 4 mile creek

0.5 MI. NORTH AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 2019 Load: 64.9 t ADT: 256

CO. HWY. 47

Good

Over: YELLOWLEAF CREEK

10 MI.N. OF AL 25, Shelby, AL

Built 1987 Load: 69.9 t ADT: 3,690

CO. HWY. 17

Good

Over: KING CREEK

0.9 MI. SO.CR 22, Shelby, AL

Built 1988 Load: 70.9 t ADT: 1,545

County Rd 52

Good

Over: Cahaba River

CR 52 over Cahaba River, Shelby, AL

Built 2021 Load: 74.8 t ADT: 15,911

BALLANTRAE CLUB DR

Good

Over: S. FORK YELLOWLEAF CREEK

WEST OF FIRE STATION # 5, Shelby, AL

Built 2003 Load: 77.2 t ADT: 3,177

CO. HWY. 62

Good

Over: BLUE SPRING BRANCH

1.7 MI NE US 280, Shelby, AL

Built 1955 Load: 78.5 t ADT: 976

CO. HWY. 26

Good

Over: N. FORK OF BIG CREEK

6.1 MI. W OF ST. 70, Shelby, AL

Built 1937 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 6,770

EAGLE POINT CIRCLE

Good

Over: IVY BRANCH

400 SO. EAGLE CREST DR., Shelby, AL

Built 1998 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 600

EAGLE CREST DRIVE

Good

Over: CAHABA VALLEY CREEK

200 FROM AL 119, Shelby, AL

Built 1989 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 1,000

ELM STREET

Good

Over: Lee Brook

0.2 MI FROM MULLINS ST, Shelby, AL

Built 2004 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 450

CAHABA BEACH ROAD

Poor

Over: LITTLE CAHABA RIVER

1.8 MILES NORTH OF US 280, Shelby, AL

Built 1904 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100

CO. HWY. 51

Poor

Over: YELLOWLEAF CREEK

1 MI SO. JCT CO 55, Shelby, AL

Built 1935 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 800

AL - 3 NORTH

Poor

Over: PEAVINE CK * ACL RR

@ CO RD 52, Shelby, AL

Built 1924 Load: 30.4 t ADT: 28,511

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.