County profile · official public datasets

Palm Beach County, FL

610 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 79.7% rated Good, 20% Fair, 0.3% Poor.

610
Public bridges: 79.7%
Good condition: 0.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Palm Beach County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.3%
Poor-condition share: 610
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Palm Beach County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Palm Beach County ranks #14 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.3%). Palm Beach County, Florida contains 610 public highway bridges. Roughly 79.7% are rated “Good,” 20% “Fair,” and 0.3% “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

610

Public highway bridges in Palm Beach County

Good condition

79.7%

486 of 610 rated 7-9

Fair condition

20%

122 of 610 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.3%

2 of 610 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 610 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

79.7% (486)

Fair

20% (122)

Poor

0.3% (2)

Palm Beach County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,325 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16,663 crossings a day against 30,781 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 609 of 610 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.1% of Palm Beach County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

159 of the 610 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 79.7% 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 88.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-1 (SR-5) over Earman River (C-17), built 1956, carries 29,500 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 33,325 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

2
1950s

54
1960s

62
1970s

91
1980s

105
1990s

118
2000s

129
2010s

39
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 129 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Florida average (1983).

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

The 5 Florida counties nearest Palm Beach County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Palm Beach County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hillsborough County	840	68.8%	31%	0.2%	1985
Duval County	831	63.7%	34.5%	1.8%	1984
Broward County	686	69.2%	28.9%	1.9%	1982
Palm Beach County (this page)	610	79.7%	20%	0.3%	1987
Pinellas County	435	63.7%	34.5%	1.8%	1983
Lee County	391	75.4%	23.8%	0.8%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (610 bridges here).

Sonoma County, CA · 609 bridges
Mobile County, AL · 612 bridges
Allen County, IN · 613 bridges
Weld County, CO · 614 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Dane County, WI · avg 1987 · 590 bridges

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

All 610 Good 486 Fair 122 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (486)

Sort:

Palm Beach County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Palm Beach County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,325 vehicle crossings a day

26.1% of Palm Beach County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 88.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Palm Beach 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 (486)

US-1 (SR-5) SB

EB SR 786

SR-80EB (Southern)

WB SR 786

SR786 WB to SB I95

MILITARY TR. SB

ROYAL PLM BH BL NB

PONCE DE LEON ST

LA MANCHA AVE.

LA MANCHA AVE.

MADRID STREET

CR 880

EB SR-710

WB SR-710

SR 91 NB OFF 76.3

N. LAKE BLVD WB

DONALD ROSS RD WB

DONALD ROSS RD EB

JOG ROAD

EB 706 To SB I-95

MARINA BLVD.

LAKE IDA ROAD

I 95 SR 9

SUMMIT BLVD

LYONS ROAD

Old Boynton Road

SBSR807 to EBSR80

SR91 SB ON RP 81.9

SB I-95 to PBIA

PBIA to SB I-95

WB Forest Hill Bld

CONGRESS AVE SB

El Clair Ranch Rd.

CONGRESS AVE

SB I 95 SR 9

NB I 95 SR 9

PBIA Rp to NB I-95

SW 18TH STREET WB

JOG ROAD SB

MILITARY TR. NB

I 95 SR 9 NB

SR708 (Blue Heron)

CR-812 OCEAN AVE

BELVEDERE RD

FLAVOR PICT ROAD

Woolbright Road

SB US-441 (SR-7)

Spanish River Blvd

NB US-441 (SR-7)

E/B Atlantic Ave.

Related