Total bridges
183
Public highway bridges in St. Clair County
County profile · official public datasets
St. Clair County, AL
183 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.3% rated Good, 71% Fair, 1.6% Poor.
- 183
- Public bridges
- 27.3%
- Good condition
- 1.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
St. Clair County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 33%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 1.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 183
- public highway bridges
- 1967
- 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.
St. Clair County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, St. Clair County ranks #22 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). St. Clair County, Alabama contains 183 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.3% are rated “Good,” 71% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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
27.3%
50 of 183 rated 7-9
Fair condition
71%
130 of 183 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.6%
3 of 183 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#22 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 183 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 27.3% (50)
Fair 71% (130)
Poor 1.6% (3)
St. Clair County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,180 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,060 crossings a day against 5,976 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 183 of 183 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
69.4% of St. Clair County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
127 of the 183 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 27.3% 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 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I - 59 SOUTH over CANOE CREEK, built 1961, carries 10,585 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 21,180 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When St. Clair County's bridges were built
183 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 9
1920–1929
9 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
30 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
73 bridges
- 1970s 8
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s 10
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s 18
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s 15
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 73 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 39.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 7 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.
How St. Clair County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest St. Clair County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler County | 189 | 27% | 72% | 1.1% | 1976 |
| Fayette County | 186 | 30.6% | 68.3% | 1.1% | 1969 |
| Chambers County | 185 | 51.9% | 40% | 8.1% | 1973 |
| St. Clair County (this page) | 183 | 27.3% | 71% | 1.6% | 1967 |
| Lamar County | 181 | 26% | 71.8% | 2.2% | 1966 |
| Blount County | 180 | 12.8% | 79.4% | 7.8% | 1968 |
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 St. Clair 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 St. Clair County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (183 bridges here).
- Richmond County, GA · 183 bridges
- Marshall County, IN · 183 bridges
- Appanoose County, IA · 183 bridges
- Keokuk County, IA · 183 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1967 here).
- Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
- Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
- Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
- Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (130)
US 231
FairOver: BRANCH
0.3 MI S JCT AL 34, St. Clair, AL
Built 1964 Load: 42.5 t ADT: 11,430
AL - 7 (US 11)
FairOver: I - 59
US 11 / I - 59, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 5,130
HUFF LANE
FairOver: EARLY BRANCH
0.6 MI N US HWY 11, St. Clair, AL
Built 1968 Load: 43.0 t ADT: 170
ST CLAIR CO HW 78
FairOver: BROKEN ARROW CREEK
0.6 MI N HARKEYS CHAP.CH., St. Clair, AL
Built 1994 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 450
US 231
FairOver: BRANCH
1.4 MI N JCT AL 53 S, St. Clair, AL
Built 1926 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 4,640
US 11
FairOver: BRANCH
JCT CO RD 30, St. Clair, AL
Built 1934 Load: 46.9 t ADT: 5,130
AL - 4 (US 78)
FairOver: RAM HORN BRANCH
US 78 * RAM HORN BRANCH, St. Clair, AL
Built 1929 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 1,270
AL - 144
FairOver: SHELOR CREEK
5.5 MI. NO. US 231, St. Clair, AL
Built 1940 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 2,578
AL - 4 (US 78)
FairOver: MOODY CK
AT BROMPTON RD, St. Clair, AL
Built 1928 Load: 51.4 t ADT: 3,170
I - 20
FairOver: AL - 4 ( US 78)
EDEN EXIT, St. Clair, AL
Built 2005 Load: 56.0 t ADT: 53,023
US 231
FairOver: BRANCH
1.4 MI. NO. ST.CLAIR CO.L, St. Clair, AL
Built 1941 Load: 70.9 t ADT: 3,570
I - 59 SOUTH
FairOver: BRANCH
6 MI N US 231, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 84.1 t ADT: 10,590
AL - 25 (US 411)
FairOver: BRANCH
.2MI N MOODY CTY LM, St. Clair, AL
Built 1947 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 11,070
AL - 174
FairOver: BRANCH
100 E.CO. RD. 16, St. Clair, AL
Built 1941 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 4,480
US 231
FairOver: BRANCH
1 . 5 MI NO JCT US 11, St. Clair, AL
Built 1948 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 5,520
I 20
FairOver: WOLF CREEK
.3 MI. W. EDEN EXIT, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 46,760
I 20
FairOver: FISHING CREEK
I 20 * FISH CREEK, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 43,320
I -59
FairOver: BRANCH
.1 TH MI NO AGS RR, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 26,510
I - 59
FairOver: BRANCH
2 TH MI SO JCT 174, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 26,510
I59
FairOver: LEFT HAND PRONG
.2 MI SO JCT AL 23, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 26,165
I59
FairOver: BRANCH
2 MI SO JCT US 231, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 10,585
I - 59 NORTH
FairOver: BRANCH
2 MI S JCT US 231, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 10,585
I - 59 NORTH
FairOver: BRANCH
6 MI NO US 231, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 10,590
I - 59
FairOver: BRANCH
0 . 5 MI SO ETOWAH CO LN, St. Clair, AL
Built 1961 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 26,319
ST CLAIR CO
FairOver: NO NAME
1.1 MI SE CHANDLER MT CH, St. Clair, AL
Built 1963 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 485
ST CLAIR CO
FairOver: GREEN BRANCH
IN RAGLAND, St. Clair, AL
Built 1967 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 3,157
AL - 144
FairOver: CREEK
200 NO. OLD HWY 26, St. Clair, AL
Built 1973 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 3,260
CO. RD.
FairOver: MARGARET LAKE CREEK
CO. RD.12, St. Clair, AL
Built 1940 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 200
CO. 6
FairOver: MIDDLE BLACK CREEK
5.64KM FROM HWY 411??????, St. Clair, AL
Built 1996 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 3,943
WALDROP RD.
FairOver: SHOUL CREEK
0.71KM FROM CO. RD. 21, St. Clair, AL
Built 1960 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 150
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.