County profile · official public datasets

Brunswick County, NC

166 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.2% rated Good, 54.8% Fair, 6% Poor.

166
Public bridges: 39.2%
Good condition: 6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Brunswick 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.

61st
of 100 on Poor share: 6%
Poor-condition share: 166
public highway bridges: 1991
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.

Brunswick County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Brunswick County ranks #61 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6%). Brunswick County, North Carolina contains 166 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.2% are rated “Good,” 54.8% “Fair,” and 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

166

Public highway bridges in Brunswick County

Good condition

39.2%

65 of 166 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.8%

91 of 166 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10 of 166 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 166 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.2% (65)

Fair

54.8% (91)

Poor

6% (10)

Brunswick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,350 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,035 crossings a day against 7,551 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 166 of 166 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.7% of Brunswick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 166 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 39.2% 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 46.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US17 over US76, built 1968, carries 33,000 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 70,350 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

11
1960s

8
1970s

17
1980s

27
1990s

26
2000s

15
2010s

48
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1991, 5 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Brunswick County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1991 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Brunswick County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Anson County	169	52.7%	43.2%	4.1%	1985
Lincoln County	169	45.6%	49.1%	5.3%	1984
Yadkin County	168	32.7%	57.7%	9.5%	1986
Brunswick County (this page)	166	39.2%	54.8%	6%	1991
Cherokee County	163	38.7%	57.1%	4.3%	1977
Stanly County	163	57.7%	39.3%	3.1%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (166 bridges here).

Clay County, IL · 166 bridges
Trego County, KS · 166 bridges
Bay County, MI · 166 bridges
Pontotoc County, MS · 166 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1991 here).

Denver County, CO · avg 1991 · 458 bridges
Baldwin County, AL · avg 1991 · 381 bridges
Rock County, MN · avg 1991 · 265 bridges
Alcorn County, MS · avg 1991 · 213 bridges

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

All 166 Good 65 Fair 91 Poor 10

All bridges (166)

Sort:

Brunswick County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Brunswick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70,350 vehicle crossings a day

21.7% of Brunswick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 46.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Brunswick 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

All bridges (166)

SR1300

SR1455

SR1333

SR1340

NC133

I-140E US17N

SR1430

NC211

NC133

SR1154

SR1300

I140E

SR1426

SR1401

I140W

I140E

SR1426

NC87

NC133

I140W

I140E

US74 US76 W

I140W US17S

NC906

NC211

NC87

SR1401

I140W

NC211

NC211

SR1115

SR1302

NC 87

I140W US17S

I140

I140W

I140E

I-140E US17N

US17 74 76N

I140W

SR1518

SR1115

SR1349

I140W US17N

I-140W US17S

NC130

SR1115

SR1521

I-140W

I140E

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