County profile · official public datasets

Union County, GA

85 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.5% rated Good, 58.8% Fair, 4.7% Poor.

85
Public bridges: 36.5%
Good condition: 4.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

146th
of 159 on Poor share: 4.7%
Poor-condition share: 85
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #146 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Union County, Georgia contains 85 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.5% are rated “Good,” 58.8% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

36.5%

31 of 85 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.8%

50 of 85 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.7%

4 of 85 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#146 of 159

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

Condition distribution

Share of 85 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.5% (31)

Fair

58.8% (50)

Poor

4.7% (4)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 971 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 243 crossings a day against 4,565 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 85 of 85 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.4% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 85 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 36.5% 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 50.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

HILL ROAD over WOLF CREEK, built 1981, carries 490 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 971 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

5
1950s

5
1960s

12
1970s

14
1980s

31
1990s

9
2000s

1
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Georgia average (1977).

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

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Union County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Catoosa County	86	53.5%	43%	3.5%	1978
Early County	85	92.9%	7.1%	0%	1979
Union County (this page)	85	36.5%	58.8%	4.7%	1975
Elbert County	84	69%	26.2%	4.8%	1971
Glynn County	84	66.7%	32.1%	1.2%	1976
Paulding County	84	71.4%	28.6%	0%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (85 bridges here).

Monroe County, AR · 85 bridges
Elbert County, CO · 85 bridges
Hardee County, FL · 85 bridges
Fulton County, IN · 85 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 85 Good 31 Fair 50 Poor 4

All bridges (85)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 971 vehicle crossings a day

42.4% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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 (85)

BYERS ROAD

PAT COLEWELL RD

LOVING ROAD

GUMLOG ROAD

TRACKROCK CH ROAD

MEMORY GARDENS RD

MULKY GAP ROAD

GUM LOG CREEK

NICHOLSON ROAD

US 76 SBL- SR 2

WEAVER ROAD

IVY LOG GAP ROAD

DOCK JONES ROAD

COLLINS ROAD

MT. PLEASANT CH RD

JOHN SMITH ROAD

CRAWLY GAP ROAD

IVY LOG ROAD

US 19- US 129

US 76 SBL- SR 2

US 19- US 129

US 19- US 129

SR 60

RUSSELL SCENIC HWY

US 19- US 129

US 76 NBL- SR 2

PAT COLEWELL ROAD

VOGEL CAMPGROUND

WEST FORK CREEK RO

LITTLE ED ROAD

ROBERT HARKINS RD

FISHER FIELD

HILL ROAD

OLD BALD MTN ROAD

COOPER CREEK ROAD

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