County profile · official public datasets

Polk County, GA

117 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 74.4% rated Good, 23.9% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

117
Public bridges: 74.4%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Polk County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

108th
of 159 on Poor share: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 117
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Polk County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Polk County ranks #108 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Polk County, Georgia contains 117 public highway bridges. Roughly 74.4% are rated “Good,” 23.9% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

117

Public highway bridges in Polk County

Good condition

74.4%

87 of 117 rated 7-9

Fair condition

23.9%

28 of 117 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

2 of 117 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#108 of 159

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

Condition distribution

Share of 117 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

74.4% (87)

Fair

23.9% (28)

Poor

1.7% (2)

Polk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,186 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,593 crossings a day against 5,277 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 117 of 117 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.1% of Polk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 117 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 74.4% 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

COLLEGE STREET over CSX RAILROAD, built 1918, carries 2,820 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 3,186 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

3
1930s

20
1940s

9
1950s

9
1960s

13
1970s

16
1980s

11
1990s

14
2000s

16
2010s

2
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 7 years older than the Georgia average of 1977.

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

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Polk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Polk County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Emanuel County	121	81%	17.4%	1.7%	1972
Rabun County	118	57.6%	40.7%	1.7%	1973
Franklin County	117	70.1%	27.4%	2.6%	1976
Polk County (this page)	117	74.4%	23.9%	1.7%	1970
Walton County	115	72.2%	26.1%	1.7%	1981
Chattooga County	113	58.4%	32.7%	8.8%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (117 bridges here).

Clark County, KY · 117 bridges
Fleming County, KY · 117 bridges
Franklin County, KY · 117 bridges
Benton County, MN · 117 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside GA (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 117 Good 87 Fair 28 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Polk County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Polk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,186 vehicle crossings a day

58.1% of Polk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Polk 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

Good-condition bridges (87)

MOUNTAIN HOME LOOP

BELLVIEW ROAD

PINE CREST STREET

LAKE CREEK ROAD

LIME BRANCH ROAD

HILLS CREEK ROAD

SR 1 (S 27 NBL/SBL

SR 6 - US 278

SR 1 - US 27

SR 100

SR 100

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

SR 1 (US 27)

MOUNTAIN LOOP ROAD

MORGAN VALLEY RD

SPRING/MAYNOLIA ST

JOHNSON LAKE ROAD

SR 6 - US 278 EBL

SR 1 (US 27 NBL)

SR 1 (US 27 SBL)

SR 1 (US 27 NBL)

SR 1 (US 27 SBL)

SR 6 - US 278

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

SR 6 - US 278

JONES AVENUE

CAVES SPRING ROAD

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

SR 6 - US 278

PLEASANT HILL ROAD

COBB MOUNTAIN RD

SR 6 - US 278

US 278/ SR 6-NATHA

INDUSTRIAL DRIVE

PINE BOW ROAD

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