County profile · official public datasets

Manatee County, FL

254 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.1% rated Good, 44.1% Fair, 0.8% Poor.

254
Public bridges: 55.1%
Good condition: 0.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Manatee County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.8%
Poor-condition share: 254
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.

Manatee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Manatee County ranks #19 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.8%). Manatee County, Florida contains 254 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.1% are rated “Good,” 44.1% “Fair,” and 0.8% “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

254

Public highway bridges in Manatee County

Good condition

55.1%

140 of 254 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.1%

112 of 254 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.8%

2 of 254 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 254 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.1% (140)

Fair

44.1% (112)

Poor

0.8% (2)

Manatee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,584 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,292 crossings a day against 17,172 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 254 of 254 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.8% of Manatee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 254 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 55.1% 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 67.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

9TH STREET WEST over CEDAR HAMMOCK CANAL, built 1960, carries 3,084 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,584 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

3
1950s

32
1960s

39
1970s

29
1980s

57
1990s

30
2000s

32
2010s

20
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Florida average (1983).

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

The 5 Florida counties nearest Manatee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Manatee County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Osceola County	255	62.4%	37.6%	0%	1985
Manatee County (this page)	254	55.1%	44.1%	0.8%	1983
Escambia County	250	44.4%	52%	3.6%	1984
Brevard County	249	51.4%	47.8%	0.8%	1981
Volusia County	238	58.8%	39.1%	2.1%	1984
Walton County	229	36.2%	57.6%	6.1%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (254 bridges here).

Ottawa County, MI · 254 bridges
Wagoner County, OK · 254 bridges
Coos County, OR · 254 bridges
Adams County, PA · 254 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 254 Good 140 Fair 112 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (112)

Sort:

Manatee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Manatee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,584 vehicle crossings a day

37.8% of Manatee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 67.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Manatee 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 (112)

UP.MANATEE RIV RD

26TH ST. WEST

WAUCHULA RD.

MAGELLAN DRIVE

SR-684 (Cortez Rd)

SR-70

PALMA SOLA BLVD.

SR 789

CR-780 CLAY GULLY

I-275 NB

CR-675

SINGLETARY ROAD

SINGLETARY ROAD

49th St E EXP FARM

PALMA SOLA BLVD.

M AND J ROAD

LORRAINE ROAD

UP MANATEE RIV RD

SR-70

WAUCHULA RD.

BISHOP HARBOR ROAD

SUGAR BOWL ROAD

DUETTE ROAD

OGLEBY CREEK RD.

30th Ave W

SR-70

SR-64

SR-64

SR 64

193rd St E

SR-62

SR-70

20TH STREET W

TAYLOR GRADE RD.

GOLF COURSE RD.

VERNA BETHANY ROAD

I-275 SB

SR-70

51ST STREET WEST

45TH STREET EAST

CR-39

SR-70

CR-675

127TH ST W

I-275 SB

ACCESS RD FISHPIER

75TH ST WEST

Lakewood Rnch Blvd

BAY BLVD.

10TH ST W (CR-43)

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