County profile · official public datasets

Anson County, NC

169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.7% rated Good, 43.2% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

169
Public bridges: 52.7%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Anson County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 42%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 169
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Anson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Anson County ranks #42 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Anson County, North Carolina contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.7% are rated “Good,” 43.2% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

169

Public highway bridges in Anson County

Good condition

52.7%

89 of 169 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.2%

73 of 169 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

7 of 169 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 100

Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.7% (89)

Fair

43.2% (73)

Poor

4.1% (7)

Anson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,660 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,523 crossings a day against 1,000 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 169 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.8% of Anson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 169 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 52.7% 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 42.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US52 over SOUTH FORK JONES CREEK, built 1954, carries 4,500 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,660 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

23
1960s

12
1970s

17
1980s

30
1990s

25
2000s

9
2010s

34
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

How Anson County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Anson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Anson County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Onslow County	172	49.4%	47.7%	2.9%	1995
Lincoln County	169	45.6%	49.1%	5.3%	1984
Anson County (this page)	169	52.7%	43.2%	4.1%	1985
Yadkin County	168	32.7%	57.7%	9.5%	1986
Brunswick County	166	39.2%	54.8%	6%	1991
Cherokee County	163	38.7%	57.1%	4.3%	1977

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 Anson 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 Anson County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (169 bridges here).

Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
Union County, IA · 169 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 169 Good 89 Fair 73 Poor 7

Fair-condition bridges (73)

Sort:

Anson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Anson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,660 vehicle crossings a day

30.8% of Anson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Anson County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (73)

SR1654

SR1217

SR1252

SR1246

SR1606

SR1637

SR1126

SR1631

US74

BURNS STREET

SR1638

NC742

SR1826

SR1404

SR1652

SR1444

US52 US74

SR1121

SR1401

NORTH PARK STREET

US74 WBL

SR1709

NC742

SR1404

US74 EBL

SR1436

SR1600

SR1641

US52

US74

SR1205

SR1612

US74 EBL

SR1703

SR1459

US74 EBL

US52

NC742

SR1615

US74 WBL

US52

SR1730

NC109

SR1610

US74 EBL

SR1002

US74 EBL

SR1240

SR1109

SR1612

Related