County profile · official public datasets

Hancock County, GA

64 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 78.1% rated Good, 12.5% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

64
Public bridges: 78.1%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

155th
of 159 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 64
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hancock County ranks #155 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Hancock County, Georgia contains 64 public highway bridges. Roughly 78.1% are rated “Good,” 12.5% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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 Hancock County

Good condition

78.1%

50 of 64 rated 7-9

Fair condition

12.5%

8 of 64 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

6 of 64 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#155 of 159

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

Condition distribution

Share of 64 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

78.1% (50)

Fair

12.5% (8)

Poor

9.4% (6)

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,861 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 310 crossings a day against 668 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 64 of 64 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.4% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

31 of the 64 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 78.1% 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 74.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 16 over OGEECHEE RIVER, built 1969, carries 1,390 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,861 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

1
1940s

4
1950s

15
1960s

7
1970s

6
1980s

6
1990s

16
2000s

2
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Georgia average (1977).

How Hancock County compares with Georgia's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Hancock County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 158 Georgia counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hancock County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cook County	66	77.3%	22.7%	0%	1976
Pierce County	65	86.2%	13.8%	0%	1975
Jefferson County	64	81.3%	17.2%	1.6%	1978
Lamar County	64	56.3%	40.6%	3.1%	1967
Hancock County (this page)	64	78.1%	12.5%	9.4%	1975
Chattahoochee County	63	73%	25.4%	1.6%	1990

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (64 bridges here).

Southeast Fairbanks County, AK · 64 bridges
Delta County, CO · 64 bridges
Sedgwick County, CO · 64 bridges
Sagadahoc County, ME · 64 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside GA (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges
Monroe County, NY · avg 1975 · 615 bridges

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

All 64 Good 50 Fair 8 Poor 6

All bridges (64)

Sort:

DAVIS ROAD

Fair

Over: CSX RAILROAD (279813L)

8.8 MI SW OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1940 Load: 6.3 t ADT: 110

SHOAL ROAD

Fair

Over: OGEECHEE RIVER

12.7 MI E OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1958 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 370

HALL CHAPEL ROAD

Fair

Over: CSX RAILROAD (279810R)

6.8 MI SW OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1992 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 150

POOLE ROAD

Fair

Over: CSX RAILROAD (279789M)

7.2 MI NE OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1991 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 121

SR 16

Fair

Over: SHOULDERBONE CREEK

7.4 MI NW OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1940 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 1,280

WATTS ROAD

Fair

Over: FORT CREEK

5.5 MI W OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1960 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 121

SWIFT CREEK ROAD

Fair

Over: SWIFT CREEK

10.8 MI S OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Built 1950 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 121

FAIRMONT ROAD

Fair

Over: BEAVERDAM CREEK

4.9 MI N OF SPARTA, Hancock, GA

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,861 vehicle crossings a day

48.4% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 74.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hancock County compares with Georgia'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 (64)

DAVIS ROAD

SHOAL ROAD

HALL CHAPEL ROAD

POOLE ROAD

SR 16

WATTS ROAD

SWIFT CREEK ROAD

FAIRMONT ROAD

JONES BRIDGE ROAD

SHOAL ROAD

POWELTON CH RD

WARRENTON ROAD

LINTON ROAD

JEWELL ROAD

SR 77

SR 77

LINTON ROAD

CARRS STATION RD

CATTOWN ROAD

ST PAUL CHURCH RD

BETHEL CHURCH RD

SR 15

SR 22

SR 22

LINTON ROAD

FAIRMONT ROAD

MT STEPHENS ROAD

EDWARDS ROAD

BROWN CHAPEL RD

DICKENS POND RD

DICKENS POND RD

PUMPING STATION RD

SR 15

SR 15

SR 16

LOG CABIN ROAD

MINOR ROAD

ISLAND CREEK RD

ISLAND CREEK RD

CODY JOHNSON RD

LOG CABIN ROAD

PEARSON CHAPEL RD

SANDY RUN ROAD

SR 16

FULSOME CREEK ROAD

SR 22

NAT MOSLEY ROAD

BROWN CHAPEL RD

SR 22

SR 16

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