County profile · official public datasets

Sarasota County, FL

298 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.7% rated Good, 41.6% Fair, 0.7% Poor.

298
Public bridges: 57.7%
Good condition: 0.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sarasota County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 24%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.7%
Poor-condition share: 298
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Sarasota County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sarasota County ranks #16 of 67 Florida counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.7%). Sarasota County, Florida contains 298 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.7% are rated “Good,” 41.6% “Fair,” and 0.7% “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

298

Public highway bridges in Sarasota County

Good condition

57.7%

172 of 298 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.6%

124 of 298 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.7%

2 of 298 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 67

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

Condition distribution

Share of 298 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.7% (172)

Fair

41.6% (124)

Poor

0.7% (2)

Sarasota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,044 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8,022 crossings a day against 17,324 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 298 of 298 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.9% of Sarasota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 298 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 57.7% 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 91% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTH SUMTER BLVD. over COCOPLUM WATERWAY, built 2008, carries 14,600 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 16,044 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

2
1940s

1
1950s

23
1960s

38
1970s

60
1980s

72
1990s

37
2000s

32
2010s

22
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 72 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Florida average (1983).

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

The 5 Florida counties nearest Sarasota County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 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 Sarasota County and the 5 Florida counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sarasota County (this page)	298	57.7%	41.6%	0.7%	1982
Osceola County	255	62.4%	37.6%	0%	1985
Manatee County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside FL (298 bridges here).

Rutherford County, NC · 298 bridges
Seminole County, OK · 298 bridges
Richland County, WI · 298 bridges
St. Croix County, WI · 298 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside FL (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 298 Good 172 Fair 124 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (172)

Sort:

Sarasota County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sarasota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,044 vehicle crossings a day

29.9% of Sarasota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 91% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sarasota 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 (172)

BOAT RAMP RD

I-75 (SR-93)

BEE RIDGE ROAD

CR-780 MYAKKA RD

SOUTH RIVER ROAD

CONTENTO DR

AZURE WAY

CALLE FLORIDA

TREASURE BOATWAY W

TREASURE BOAT WAY

PRIMROSE PATH

GIVENS STREET

HIGEL AVE.

Rustic Rd-Ranch Rd

SHAMROCK PARK RD

17TH ST

FRUITVILLE ROAD

HONORE AVENUE

ALBEE FARM ROAD

JACARANDA BLVD.

SUMTER BLVD NB

BAY INDIES BLVD

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