Total bridges
154
Public highway bridges in Beaufort County
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.
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.
When Beaufort County's bridges were built
154 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s 16
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s 10
1970–1979
10 bridges
- 1980s 8
1980–1989
8 bridges
- 1990s 18
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s 19
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
57 bridges
- 2020s 13
2020–2029
13 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (11)
SR1112
PoorOver: BLOUNTS CREEK
1.8 MI E. OF JCT SR1118, Beaufort, NC
Built 1990 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 590
SR1339
PoorOver: HARVEY CREEK
0.3 MI. N. JCT. SR1344, Beaufort, NC
Built 1962 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 500
US17 BUS
PoorOver: DIRT
2.7 MI. N. OF JCT.NC33, Beaufort, NC
Built 1928 Load: 24.4 t ADT: 13,000
SR1110
PoorOver: HERRING RUN
1.0 MI.N.JCT.NC33, Beaufort, NC
Built 1957 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 100
US264
PoorOver: PUNGO RIVER
0.1 MI.E. JCT.SR1712, Beaufort, NC
Built 1956 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 2,500
NC306 FERRY
PoorOver: PAMLICO RIVER
0.3 MI S.JCT.NC92, Beaufort, NC
Built 1994 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 400
NC306 FERRY
PoorOver: PAMLICO SOUND
S.END OF NC306, Beaufort, NC
Built 1994 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 270
SR1901
PoorOver: LOWER SPRING CREEK
0.1 MI. E. JCT. SR1912, Beaufort, NC
Built 1985 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 100
SR1126
PoorOver: MORRIS RUN
0.3 MI S JCT NC33, Beaufort, NC
Built 1993 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 610
SR1126
PoorOver: CHOCOWINITY CREEK
0.2 MI S. JCT NC33, Beaufort, NC
Built 1993 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 160
SR1339
PoorOver: BOYD CREEK
2.0 MI S JCT.US264, Beaufort, NC
Built 1979 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 450
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.