Total bridges
177
Public highway bridges in Washington County
County profile · official public datasets
Washington County, AL
177 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.8% rated Good, 56.5% Fair, 10.7% Poor.
- 177
- Public bridges
- 32.8%
- Good condition
- 10.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Washington County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- 65th
- of 67 on Poor share
- 10.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 177
- 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.
Washington County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #65 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.7%). Washington County, Alabama contains 177 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.8% are rated “Good,” 56.5% “Fair,” and 10.7% “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
32.8%
58 of 177 rated 7-9
Fair condition
56.5%
100 of 177 rated 5-6
Poor condition
10.7%
19 of 177 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#65 of 67
Among Alabama counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 177 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 32.8% (58)
Fair 56.5% (100)
Poor 10.7% (19)
Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,615 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 85 crossings a day against 1,451 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 177 of 177 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
36.7% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
65 of the 177 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 32.8% 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 15.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
LUKE RIVERS RD over BILBO CREEK, built 1984, carries 250 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,615 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Washington County's bridges were built
177 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
17 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
20 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
33 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
29 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
18 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 7 years newer than the Alabama average of 1974.
How Washington County compares with Alabama's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Alabama counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 11 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 66 Alabama counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar County | 181 | 26% | 71.8% | 2.2% | 1966 |
| Blount County | 180 | 12.8% | 79.4% | 7.8% | 1968 |
| Hale County | 177 | 49.2% | 45.8% | 5.1% | 1972 |
| Macon County | 177 | 24.9% | 64.4% | 10.7% | 1973 |
| Washington County (this page) | 177 | 32.8% | 56.5% | 10.7% | 1981 |
| Colbert County | 172 | 31.4% | 66.9% | 1.7% | 1972 |
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 Washington 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 Washington County, both outside Alabama so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AL (177 bridges here).
- Seminole County, FL · 177 bridges
- Dodge County, MN · 177 bridges
- Pierce County, NE · 177 bridges
- Marion County, TN · 177 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (19)
WASH.CH.RD.
PoorOver: LEWIS CREEK
HAWTHORNE, Washington, AL
Built 1955 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 25
SEABOARD CUT-OFF
PoorOver: TIGER BRANCH CREEK
SEABOARD, Washington, AL
Built 1987 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 45
CO RD 25
PoorOver: BILBO CREEK
SEABOARD, Washington, AL
Built 1970 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 100
MARVIN TURNER RD
PoorOver: FLAT BRANCH
DEER PARK, Washington, AL
Built 1983 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 15
LUELLA RD
PoorOver: TRIB BILBO CREEK
OFF JOHN JOHNSTON ROAD, Washington, AL
Built 1978 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 100
FIRETOWER ROAD
PoorOver: BATES CREEK
FAIRFORD, Washington, AL
Built 1980 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 100
LUKE RIVERS RD
PoorOver: BILBO CREEK
LUKE RIVERS RD, Washington, AL
Built 1984 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 250
BETHEL CHURCH RD
PoorOver: JACKS BRANCH
BETHEL CHURCH RD, Washington, AL
Built 1978 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 50
STOKER ROAD
PoorOver: TRIB BASSETS CREEK
ST. STEPHENS\HOBSON, Washington, AL
Built 1989 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 50
DEARMAN FORK RD
PoorOver: TAYLORS CREEK
.5 MILE FROM CNTY RD 11, Washington, AL
Built 1979 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 100
RITA BAY RD
PoorOver: UT LITTLE RED CREEK
RED CREEK, Washington, AL
Built 1968 Load: 1.8 t ADT: 100
TATE RD
PoorOver: RED CREEK
0.5 MI. SO. CO. RD. 36, Washington, AL
Built 1980 Load: 6.4 t ADT: 75
BUD ODOM ROAD
PoorOver: GOVERNORS BRANCH
AT BRANCH ON BUD ODOM RD, Washington, AL
Built 1981 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 25
MARVIN TURNER RD
PoorOver: FLAT BRANCH
DEER PARK, Washington, AL
Built 1983 Load: 10.3 t ADT: 15
DRY CREEK RD
PoorOver: DRY CREEK
BASHI, Washington, AL
Built 1983 Load: 18.8 t ADT: 100
WHIGHAM ROAD
PoorOver: DUNBAR CREEK
DUNBAR, Washington, AL
Built 1987 Load: 21.4 t ADT: 150
PRICE RIVERS RD
PoorOver: CHOCTAW BRANCH
SIMS CHAPEL, Washington, AL
Built 1985 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 200
DIRT RD-ABB RD
PoorOver: HENSON CREEK
1 MI N CO RD 20-ABB RD, Washington, AL
Built 1985 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 100
TURNER DIRT RD
PoorOver: GUM SPRINGS BRANCH
DEER PARK, Washington, AL
Built 1983 Load: 27.1 t ADT: 15
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.