County profile · official public datasets

Bladen County, NC

123 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.2% rated Good, 34.1% Fair, 1.6% Poor.

123
Public bridges: 64.2%
Good condition: 1.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bladen County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.6%
Poor-condition share: 123
public highway bridges: 1992
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.

Bladen County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bladen County ranks #13 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). Bladen County, North Carolina contains 123 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.2% are rated “Good,” 34.1% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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

123

Public highway bridges in Bladen County

Good condition

64.2%

79 of 123 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.1%

42 of 123 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.6%

2 of 123 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 123 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64.2% (79)

Fair

34.1% (42)

Poor

1.6% (2)

Bladen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,420 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,710 crossings a day against 1,603 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 123 of 123 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.1% of Bladen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 123 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 64.2% 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 96.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC11 over WHITE OAK CANAL, built 1952, carries 3,300 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,420 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

2
1940s

1
1950s

11
1960s

5
1970s

5
1980s

15
1990s

25
2000s

21
2010s

31
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 6 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Bladen County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bladen County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mitchell County	127	35.4%	39.4%	25.2%	1981
Polk County	127	35.4%	53.5%	11%	1978
Martin County	124	45.2%	51.6%	3.2%	1988
New Hanover County	123	65%	31.7%	3.3%	1995
Bladen County (this page)	123	64.2%	34.1%	1.6%	1992
Franklin County	118	46.6%	47.5%	5.9%	1990

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (123 bridges here).

Jackson County, GA · 123 bridges
Crawford County, IN · 123 bridges
Hickman County, KY · 123 bridges
Ward County, ND · 123 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1992 here).

Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
Benton County, AR · avg 1992 · 410 bridges
Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges
Cameron County, TX · avg 1992 · 355 bridges

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

All 123 Good 79 Fair 42 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (79)

Sort:

Bladen County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bladen County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,420 vehicle crossings a day

21.1% of Bladen County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 96.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bladen 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 (79)

NC210

NC87

SR1336

SR1324

US701 NC41/53S

NC53

NC242

SR1806

SR1709

SR1145

US701 NC41/53 NBL

NC11&NC53

NC210

NC242

SR 1747

SR1534

SR1536

NC11

SR1700

SR1700

NC11

SR1760

SR1178

NC210

SR1528

SR1124

SR1316

NC11

SR1760

SR1760

SR1760

SR1550

SR1324

SR1004

SR1511

SR1318

SR1508

SR1128

SR1316

NC87 BUS

SR1708

NC11

SR1704

SR1509

SR1728

SR1710

SR1331

SR1320

NC41

SR1502

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