County profile · official public datasets

Beaufort County, NC

154 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.9% rated Good, 40.9% Fair, 7.1% Poor.

154
Public bridges: 51.9%
Good condition: 7.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Beaufort County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

67th
of 100 on Poor share: 7.1%
Poor-condition share: 154
public highway bridges: 1996
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.

Beaufort County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Beaufort County ranks #67 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.1%). Beaufort County, North Carolina contains 154 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.9% are rated “Good,” 40.9% “Fair,” and 7.1% “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

154

Public highway bridges in Beaufort County

Good condition

51.9%

80 of 154 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.9%

63 of 154 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.1%

11 of 154 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#67 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 154 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.9% (80)

Fair

40.9% (63)

Poor

7.1% (11)

Beaufort County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,680 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,698 crossings a day against 1,948 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 154 of 154 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.1% of Beaufort County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 154 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 51.9% 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 69.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US17 BUS over DIRT, built 1928, carries 13,000 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,680 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

8
1960s

16
1970s

10
1980s

8
1990s

18
2000s

19
2010s

57
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 37% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1996, 10 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Beaufort County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1996 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Beaufort County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Halifax County	158	36.7%	61.4%	1.9%	1984
Richmond County	154	57.1%	41.6%	1.3%	1988
Beaufort County (this page)	154	51.9%	40.9%	7.1%	1996
Montgomery County	151	51%	47.7%	1.3%	1986
Stokes County	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1988
Granville County	149	32.9%	61.1%	6%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (154 bridges here).

Choctaw County, AL · 154 bridges
Arkansas County, AR · 154 bridges
Kootenai County, ID · 154 bridges
Elk County, KS · 154 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1996 here).

Clark County, NV · avg 1996 · 1,141 bridges
Hamilton County, IN · avg 1996 · 454 bridges
Hays County, TX · avg 1996 · 272 bridges
Jackson County, MS · avg 1996 · 268 bridges

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

All 154 Good 80 Fair 63 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (80)

Sort:

Beaufort County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Beaufort County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,680 vehicle crossings a day

22.1% of Beaufort County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 69.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Beaufort 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

Good-condition bridges (80)

US264

SR1403

US264

SR1506

SR1626

SR1743

SR1410

NC32

SR1001

SR1971

NC99

SR1003

SR1514

SR1136

SR1136

US17N

US17BUS

NC33

SR1725

SR1520

US17S

US17S

NC33

NC306

US17N

US264

NC32

SR1616

NC99

SR1530

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