County profile · official public datasets

Winston County, AL

78 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.6% rated Good, 57.7% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

78
Public bridges: 34.6%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Winston County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

59th
of 67 on Poor share: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 78
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Winston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Winston County ranks #59 of 67 Alabama counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Winston County, Alabama contains 78 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.6% are rated “Good,” 57.7% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Winston County

Good condition

34.6%

27 of 78 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.7%

45 of 78 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

6 of 78 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 78 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.6% (27)

Fair

57.7% (45)

Poor

7.7% (6)

Winston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,426 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 904 crossings a day against 447 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 78 of 78 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.3% of Winston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

40 of the 78 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 34.6% 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 82.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

AL-257 over Sipsey River, built 1967, carries 4,476 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,426 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

7
1940s

1
1950s

16
1960s

12
1970s

5
1980s

11
1990s

10
2000s

13
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Alabama average (1974).

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

The 5 Alabama counties nearest Winston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Winston County and the 5 Alabama counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Henry County	133	41.4%	58.6%	0%	1975
Clay County	129	25.6%	67.4%	7%	1966
Bibb County	126	45.2%	54%	0.8%	1965
Coosa County	126	20.6%	75.4%	4%	1970
Autauga County	118	39%	58.5%	2.5%	1977
Winston County (this page)	78	34.6%	57.7%	7.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AL (78 bridges here).

Marion County, FL · 78 bridges
Bryan County, GA · 78 bridges
Macon County, GA · 78 bridges
Emmet County, IA · 78 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AL (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 78 Good 27 Fair 45 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (45)

Sort:

Winston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Winston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,426 vehicle crossings a day

51.3% of Winston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 82.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Winston 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 (45)

CO RD 347

CO RD 329

CAPSEY CREEK-Bridg

BRUSHY CREEK-Bridg

CO RD 18

CO RD 32

CO RD 32

CO RD 37

CO RD 25

CO RD 25

AL-74

AL-74

CO RD 22

CO RT 63

CO RT 77

CO RD 4

CO RD 39

COUNTY ROAD 1

CO RD 32

CO RD 39

WAID RD.

CO RD 40

CO RD 25

CO RD 31

AL-33

COUNTY ROAD 43

DIRT ROAD

AL-74

CO RD 60

UNPAVED CO RD

CO RD 92

CO RD 49

AL-13

AL-195

AL-74

AL-74

AL-74

AL-74

AL-74

AL-33

CO RD 80

CO RD 50

CO RD 47

CO RD 2

UNPAVED CO. RD.

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