County profile · official public datasets

Gulf County, FL

62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.4% rated Good, 67.7% Fair, 12.9% Poor.

62
Public bridges: 19.4%
Good condition: 12.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gulf 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.

63rd
of 67 on Poor share: 12.9%
Poor-condition share: 62
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Gulf County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gulf County ranks #63 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.9%). Gulf County, Florida contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.4% are rated “Good,” 67.7% “Fair,” and 12.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Gulf County

Good condition

19.4%

12 of 62 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.7%

42 of 62 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.9%

8 of 62 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.4% (12)

Fair

67.7% (42)

Poor

12.9% (8)

Gulf County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,100 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 138 crossings a day against 4,399 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.8% of Gulf County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 62 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 19.4% 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 35% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Americus Avenue over Drainage Ditch, built 1960, carries 385 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 1,100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

10
1950s

13
1960s

11
1970s

2
1980s

3
1990s

12
2000s

7
2010s

2
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 10 years older than the Florida average of 1983.

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

The 5 Florida counties nearest Gulf County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gulf County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Highlands County	63	47.6%	50.8%	1.6%	1972
Gulf County (this page)	62	19.4%	67.7%	12.9%	1973
Hamilton County	60	35%	63.3%	1.7%	1968
Hernando County	60	83.3%	16.7%	0%	1985
Madison County	60	41.7%	55%	3.3%	1968
Glades County	59	40.7%	59.3%	0%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (62 bridges here).

Conejos County, CO · 62 bridges
Pitkin County, CO · 62 bridges
Pickens County, GA · 62 bridges
Switzerland County, IN · 62 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 62 Good 12 Fair 42 Poor 8

All bridges (62)

Sort:

Gulf County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gulf County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,100 vehicle crossings a day

54.8% of Gulf County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gulf 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

All bridges (62)

Canning Drive

Monument Avenue

Buddy Floore Road

CR 30A

CR 386

CR 22-Lakegrove Rd

CR 386

CR 387

Canning Drive

Road 5

CR387-DocWhitfield

16th Street

CR 382

CR 387

US98 SR30

Road 5

US 98 SR 30

CR 22-Lakegrove Rd

SR30A

Long Avenue

CR 22-Lakegrove Rd

US 98 SR 30

Good Morning St

CR 22-Lakegrove Rd

CR 22-Lakegrove Rd

US98 (SR30)

CR 386

SR71

US 98 SR 30

US98 SR30

SR71

CR 386

CR 386

SR71

US98 SR 30

SR22

US98 SR30

US98 SR30

CR 386

Jarrott Daniels Rd

CR 387

CR386/Overstreet R

Flat Water St West

SR71

SR30A

SR22

SR30A

SR71

SR71

US98 SR30

Related