By John R. Roby
Three troubled bridges in Huntsville are in line for replacement or improvement, and city officials say the fixes will not be affected by recent changes to a bridge repair fund.
Huntsville’s City Council voted to trim 75% from a capital improvement line that funds contracts for bridge inspection and minor maintenance when the city’s budget was approved last month, redirecting the money to their discretionary spending accounts.
According to the most recent inspections available in federal data, Huntsville’s bridges are, on average, in some of the best shape of any large Alabama city. Yet the council’s move comes as the city is laying ambitious plans for new downtown bridges — funded in part by federal dollars – and is pursuing improvements to the heavily trafficked I-565 interchange with Memorial Parkway.
A Huntsville Times review of Federal Highway Administration data shows Huntsville has four bridges rated “poor” due to wear and tear noted in recent inspections. Maintenance of those four bridges, which carry an average of 31,800 vehicles daily, falls to the city. And of Huntsville’s 25 most-traveled bridges — which convey 1.8 million vehicles a day – 17 have a “fair” rating while only eight are rated “good.”
The federally required bridge and culvert inspections, a city spokesman said, will be funded with remaining dollars from 2024 and those budgeted for 2025.
“Anytime you pull money from one … account, it’s going to have some impact, and then our job will be to manage those impacts and find a solution if it’s something that isn’t tenable,” City administrator John Hamilton told councilors in September.
Statewide, The Huntsville Times reported in December, almost 3.5% of road bridges are rated “poor.” Alabama ranks No. 23 in the nation for number of bridges, and Madison County’s 702 put it No. 2 in the state.
According to FHWA data, Huntsville’s four poor-rated bridges are:
- Sparkman Drive over Pinhook Creek just west of Memorial Parkway, an approximately 100-foot span whose seven lanes carry an average daily traffic load of 19,100.
- Wynn Drive over McDonald Creek between Holmes Avenue and Corporate Drive, with four lanes and average traffic of 11,800 per day.
- Bob Wade Lane over Dry Creek just west of Pulaski Pike, with two lanes and average traffic of about 900.
- James Madison Drive SW over Bradford Creek a half-mile west of Wall-Triana Highway, at two lanes with an average daily traffic of just 50 vehicles.
The Sparkman Drive bridge is scheduled to be replaced next year. Huntsville approved a $373,713 engineering design services contract with AECOM Technical Services Inc.in August for initial work.
A city spokesman said Wynn Drive over McDonald Creek is scheduled for replacement in 2026, and the Bob Wade Lane bridge over Dry Creek is scheduled for improvements in 2026. Both projects have been funded.
The 369 road bridges in the Rocket City are in better overall shape than the 339 in the city limits of Birmingham and the 222 in Mobile. The four “poor” bridges represent 1% of Huntsville’s bridges. Just over half the spans in the city – 52.6% — earned a “good” rating, with 46% rated “fair.”
In Birmingham, 83% of the bridges are rated “fair,” with 14.7% “good” and seven – or 2% — rated “poor.” Just 12.6% of Mobile’s bridges are rated “good,” while 86.5% are “fair.” The two “poor”-rated bridges are less than 1% of Mobile’s total.
