County profile · official public datasets

Talladega County, AL

243 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.9% rated Good, 51.9% Fair, 3.3% Poor.

243
Public bridges: 44.9%
Good condition: 3.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Talladega County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

38th
of 67 on Poor share: 3.3%
Poor-condition share: 243
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.

Talladega County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Talladega County ranks #38 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). Talladega County, Alabama contains 243 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.9% are rated “Good,” 51.9% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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

243

Public highway bridges in Talladega County

Good condition

44.9%

109 of 243 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.9%

126 of 243 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.3%

8 of 243 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 243 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.9% (109)

Fair

51.9% (126)

Poor

3.3% (8)

Talladega County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,510 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 439 crossings a day against 4,143 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 243 of 243 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

66.7% of Talladega County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

162 of the 243 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 44.9% 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 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY ROAD 102 over FOURMILE CREEK, built 1987, carries 1,275 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,510 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

5
1930s

20
1940s

34
1950s

50
1960s

43
1970s

13
1980s

21
1990s

14
2000s

27
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 7 years older than the Alabama average of 1974.

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Talladega County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Talladega County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Houston County	247	47.4%	52.2%	0.4%	1978
Cullman County	246	29.3%	64.6%	6.1%	1970
Talladega County (this page)	243	44.9%	51.9%	3.3%	1967
Sumter County	241	48.5%	46.1%	5.4%	1969
Etowah County	236	50.4%	47.5%	2.1%	1976
Pickens County	233	41.6%	50.2%	8.2%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (243 bridges here).

Newton County, MS · 243 bridges
Pettis County, MO · 243 bridges
Gloucester County, NJ · 243 bridges
Columbia County, NY · 243 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.

All 243 Good 109 Fair 126 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (109)

Sort:

Talladega County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Talladega County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,510 vehicle crossings a day

66.7% of Talladega County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Talladega 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 (109)

AL 21

TALLDEGA CO. 207

NEW LINCOLN ROAD

PINE HILL ROAD

CO 034

OLD SYLACAUGA HWY

CO. ROAD 280

COUNTY ROAD 190

SR 275

SR4/US78

CO 321

CO.207

I20

AL.21

CO 203

CO. ROAD 58

COUNTY ROAD 456

CO 121

TALLADEGA CO.207

AL235

I-20

CO.105 ODENA RD.NT

West St N

CO RD 139

17TH ST

SR235

CO RD 139

COUNTY ROAD 139

AL 77

CO 045 OLD.SYL.HWY

OLD US 280

County Hwy 207

SR 76

CO 511

COUNTY ROAD 303

SR-34

COUNTY ROAD 234

CO 366

SR77

AL 21

SR 21

SR 21

COUNTY ROAD 106

COUNTY HWY O34

CHANDLER SPRINGS R

AL38 / US280

SR21

COUNTY ROAD 238

SR 21

SR77

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