County profile · official public datasets

Columbia County, FL

112 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.9% rated Good, 48.2% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

112
Public bridges: 50.9%
Good condition: 0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Columbia 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: 0.9%
Poor-condition share: 112
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Columbia County ranks #22 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Columbia County, Florida contains 112 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.9% are rated “Good,” 48.2% “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

112

Public highway bridges in Columbia County

Good condition

50.9%

57 of 112 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.2%

54 of 112 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

1 of 112 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 112 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.9% (57)

Fair

48.2% (54)

Poor

0.9% (1)

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 250 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 250 crossings a day against 8,806 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 112 of 112 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.4% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

80 of the 112 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 50.9% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 6 NW Baycrk St. over BAY CREEK, built 1951, 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 250 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

6
1950s

13
1960s

56
1970s

3
1980s

6
1990s

3
2000s

16
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 50% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 13 years older than the Florida average of 1983.

How Columbia County compares with Florida's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Florida counties nearest Columbia County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 14 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Columbia County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Indian River County	120	75%	23.3%	1.7%	1989
Alachua County	115	52.2%	47%	0.9%	1971
Lake County	113	67.3%	32.7%	0%	1990
Sumter County	112	68.8%	31.3%	0%	1991
Columbia County (this page)	112	50.9%	48.2%	0.9%	1970
Flagler County	105	57.1%	41%	1.9%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (112 bridges here).

Houston County, GA · 112 bridges
Tift County, GA · 112 bridges
Lemhi County, ID · 112 bridges
Bourbon County, KY · 112 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 112 Good 57 Fair 54 Poor 1

Good-condition bridges (57)

Sort:

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 250 vehicle crossings a day

71.4% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Columbia County compares with Florida'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 (57)

SR-47

I-75 NB (SR-93)

I-75 SB (SR-93)

SR-47

CR 131

SE COUNTRY CLUB RD

SR-47

I-75 NB (SR-93)

I-75 SB (SR-93)

CR-18

CR-349

I-75 SB SR-93

FOREST RD. 236

NE CHESHIRE LANE

Bascom Norris Dr.

CR 245

SW Ring Court

US-441 (SR-47)

US-441 (SR-47)

US-441 (SR-47)

US-41 (SR-25)

ADAMS ROAD

I-75 SB (SR-93)

I-75 NB (SR-93)

I-75 NB (SR-93)

I-75 SB (SR-93)

FALLING CREEK-BRID

ROBINSON BRANCH-BR

CR-240

CR-131

I-10 WB SR-8

CR-250

CR 241

SR-47

I-75NB RAMP(SR-93)

I-75 RAMP (SR-93)

SW BUSINESS PT DR

US-41 (SR-25)

CR 18

US-441 (SR-47)

WARD LANE

US-441 (SR-47)

SR-47

I-10 (SR-8)

I-10 WB (SR-8)

US-441 (SR-47)

I-75 SR-93

CR 245

I-10 WB (SR-8)

US-441 (SR-47)

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