County profile · official public datasets

Hardee County, FL

85 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.5% rated Good, 52.9% Fair, 3.5% Poor.

85
Public bridges: 43.5%
Good condition: 3.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 67 on Poor share: 3.5%
Poor-condition share: 85
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Hardee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hardee County ranks #45 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Hardee County, Florida contains 85 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.5% are rated “Good,” 52.9% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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 Hardee County

Good condition

43.5%

37 of 85 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.9%

45 of 85 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.5%

3 of 85 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 85 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.5% (37)

Fair

52.9% (45)

Poor

3.5% (3)

Hardee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,700 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 567 crossings a day against 5,126 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 85 of 85 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.4% of Hardee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 85 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 43.5% 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 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR-664 over LITTLE PAYNE CREEK, built 1915, carries 600 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,700 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

14
1970s

15
1980s

10
1990s

11
2000s

14
2010s

9
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Florida average (1983).

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

The 5 Florida counties nearest Hardee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hardee County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Baker County	93	26.9%	64.5%	8.6%	1966
Clay County	90	47.8%	48.9%	3.3%	1984
Taylor County	90	32.2%	58.9%	8.9%	1963
Hendry County	87	66.7%	29.9%	3.4%	1985
Hardee County (this page)	85	43.5%	52.9%	3.5%	1983
Marion County	78	52.6%	44.9%	2.6%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (85 bridges here).

Monroe County, AR · 85 bridges
Elbert County, CO · 85 bridges
Early County, GA · 85 bridges
Union County, GA · 85 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 85 Good 37 Fair 45 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (45)

Sort:

Hardee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hardee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,700 vehicle crossings a day

42.4% of Hardee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hardee 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

Fair-condition bridges (45)

CR-663 FT GREEN RD

CR634 (SWEETWATER)

CR634 (SWEETWATER)

HENDRY RD.

GRIFFIN RD (CR652)

CR-665

PARNELL RD CR-671

CR-661

DANSBY ROAD

US-17 (SR-35)

SR-62

COUNTY LINE ROAD

SR-64

CR-664B

HOBB RD

SR-62

CR-665

PARNELL RD SR-671

HEARD BRIDGE ROAD

MANLEY ROAD

SR-64

CR-665

SR-636 (SR-64A)

COUNTY LINE ROAD

US-17 NB (SR 35)

LAKE BRANCH RD.

CR-663

SR-64

WHIDDEN ROAD

STEVE ROBERTS SPEC

SR-64

OLD TOWN CREEK RD

SR-66

SR-64

OLD TOWN CREEK RD

SR-62

SR-64

CREWSVILLE ROAD

SR-66

GOOSE POND ROAD

STEVE ROBERTS SPEC

CR-64A (MAIN ST.)

CR35A SOUTH FL AVE

HEARD BRIDGE ROAD

MURPHY ROAD

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