County profile · official public datasets

Burke County, GA

80 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 73.8% rated Good, 21.3% Fair, 5% Poor.

80
Public bridges: 73.8%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

149th
of 159 on Poor share: 5%
Poor-condition share: 80
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Burke County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Burke County ranks #149 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Burke County, Georgia contains 80 public highway bridges. Roughly 73.8% are rated “Good,” 21.3% “Fair,” and 5% “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 Burke County

Good condition

73.8%

59 of 80 rated 7-9

Fair condition

21.3%

17 of 80 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4 of 80 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#149 of 159

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

Condition distribution

Share of 80 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

73.8% (59)

Fair

21.3% (17)

Poor

5% (4)

Burke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 672 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 168 crossings a day against 3,690 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 80 of 80 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.3% of Burke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

41 of the 80 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 73.8% 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 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

HERNDAN ROAD over BUCKHEAD CREEK, built 1957, carries 420 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 672 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

9
1940s

2
1950s

8
1960s

9
1970s

11
1980s

10
1990s

10
2000s

11
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 13.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Georgia average (1977).

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

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Burke County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 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 Burke County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Berrien County	81	79%	21%	0%	1972
Fayette County	81	71.6%	24.7%	3.7%	1986
Sumter County	81	86.4%	13.6%	0%	1974
White County	81	34.6%	63%	2.5%	1977
Burke County (this page)	80	73.8%	21.3%	5%	1974
Barrow County	79	69.6%	30.4%	0%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (80 bridges here).

Moffat County, CO · 80 bridges
Gooding County, ID · 80 bridges
Madison County, ID · 80 bridges
Washington County, ID · 80 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside GA (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 80 Good 59 Fair 17 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (59)

Sort:

Burke County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Burke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 672 vehicle crossings a day

51.3% of Burke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Burke 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 (59)

STORY MILL ROAD

SR 24

QUAKER ROAD

SR 56 SPUR

SR 17

STORY MILL ROAD

FARMERS BRIDGE ROA

FARMERS BRIDGE RD

SR 24

SR 56

SR 23

SR 305

THOMPSON BR ROAD

OLD WAYNESBORO RD

POTTER-CARSWELL RD

SR 24

SR 23

US 25 SBL

US 25 NBL

SR 17

SR 121 (US 25) BYP

US 25 SBL

SR 121 (US 25) BYP

SR 24

RIVER ROAD

RIVER ROAD

RIVER ROAD

RIVER ROAD

SR 17

BEN HATCHER ROAD

RALPH SMITH ROAD

DAVIS-BENNETT ROAD

SPRINGHILL CH ROAD

MAGRUDER ROAD

SR 56

US 25 NBL

US 25 SBL

US 25 SBL

US 25 NBL

US 25 NBL

OLD WAYNESBORO RD

SR23

SR 24

SR 56

SR 24

SR 121 (US 25) BYP

SR 56

SR 17

QUAKER ROAD

US 25

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