County profile · official public datasets

Charlton County, GA

71 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.8% rated Good, 33.8% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

71
Public bridges: 64.8%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Charlton 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.

94th
of 159 on Poor share: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 71
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Charlton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Charlton County ranks #94 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Charlton County, Georgia contains 71 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.8% are rated “Good,” 33.8% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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 Charlton County

Good condition

64.8%

46 of 71 rated 7-9

Fair condition

33.8%

24 of 71 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

1 of 71 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#94 of 159

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

Condition distribution

Share of 71 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64.8% (46)

Fair

33.8% (24)

Poor

1.4% (1)

Charlton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 121 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 121 crossings a day against 1,933 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 71 of 71 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.4% of Charlton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 71 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 64.8% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BRYANT LANE over BRYANT SWAMP, built 1970, carries 121 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 121 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

2
1940s

3
1950s

35
1960s

7
1970s

3
1980s

5
1990s

3
2000s

5
2010s

5
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 49.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 8 years older than the Georgia average of 1977.

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

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Charlton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Charlton County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Tattnall County	72	91.7%	8.3%	0%	1974
Wilkinson County	72	80.6%	19.4%	0%	1980
Madison County	71	76.1%	22.5%	1.4%	1979
Taylor County	71	83.1%	15.5%	1.4%	1982
Telfair County	71	76.1%	23.9%	0%	1970
Charlton County (this page)	71	64.8%	33.8%	1.4%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (71 bridges here).

Rio Grande County, CO · 71 bridges
Nez Perce County, ID · 71 bridges
Brown County, IL · 71 bridges
Custer County, MT · 71 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside GA (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 71 Good 46 Fair 24 Poor 1

Good-condition bridges (46)

Sort:

Charlton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Charlton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 121 vehicle crossings a day

70.4% of Charlton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Charlton 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 (46)

US 301 / SR 23

SR 185

US 301 / SR 23

CR 31 JIM CRAWFOR

US 1 / SR 4

US 1 (NBL) / SR 4

SR 23

SR 23

SR 23

SR 23

SR 23

SR 23

SR 23

SPANISH CREEK RD

SPANISH CREEK RD

SPANISH CREEK RD

US 1 (NBL) / SR 4

POST ROAD

POST ROAD

US 1 (SBL) / SR 4

SR 40

SR 40

SR 185

SR 23

A.E. BELL BRIDGE

OKEEFENOKEE PKWY

SR 23

US 1 (SBL) / SR 4

CR 4

CR 3

CR 60

SR 23

CR 28

SR-252

SR-252

SPANISH CREEK RD

CR 66

RALPH DAVIS ROAD

SR 185

SR 23

US 1 / SR 4

SR 185

SR 23

SR 23

CR 4

CR 4

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