Total bridges
166
Public highway bridges in Brunswick County
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.
Good condition
39.2%
65 of 166 rated 7-9
Fair condition
54.8%
91 of 166 rated 5-6
Poor condition
6%
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.
When Brunswick County's bridges were built
166 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 11
1950–1959
11 bridges
- 1960s 8
1960–1969
8 bridges
- 1970s 17
1970–1979
17 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
27 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
26 bridges
- 2000s 15
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
48 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (166)
SR1411
GoodOver: TOWN CREEK
0.2 MI. N JCT SR1410, Brunswick, NC
Built 1990 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 250
NC179
GoodOver: SAUCE PAN CREEK
0.3 MI S JCT SR1152, Brunswick, NC
Built 2009 Load: 61.6 t ADT: 7,000
US17 US74/76 NC133
GoodOver: BRUNSWICK RIVER
0.4 MI. N. JCT. NC133, Brunswick, NC
Built 2016 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 69,000
NC906
GoodOver: MIDDLE SWAMP
0.7 MI S JCT US17BUS, Brunswick, NC
Built 2023 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 7,100
SR1328
GoodOver: BEAR BRANCH
0.5 MI. W. JCT. SR1333, Brunswick, NC
Built 1995 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 850
SR1419
GoodOver: RATTLESNAKE BRANCH
0.5 MI.N.OF JCT US74/76, Brunswick, NC
Built 2008 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 2,600
SR1529
PoorOver: ORTON POND RACE
0.7 MI.N.JCT.SR1533, Brunswick, NC
Built 1950 Load: 9.9 t ADT: 850
SR1437
PoorOver: STURGEON CREEK
0.5 MI.W.JCT.US74/US76, Brunswick, NC
Built 1953 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 5,900
NC906
PoorOver: SARAH HOLE
0.1MI.S. JCT. SR1501, Brunswick, NC
Built 1952 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 1,400
US17
PoorOver: US76
1.9 MI. N. OF JCT. NC 133, Brunswick, NC
Built 1968 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 33,000
NC179 BUS
PoorOver: CALABASH RIVER
1.4 MI. E. JCT. SR 1165, Brunswick, NC
Built 1975 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 8,500
SR1472
PoorOver: STURGEON CREEK
0.8 MI.W.JCT.SR1435, Brunswick, NC
Built 1944 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 7,600
SR1518
PoorOver: DAWS CREEK
2.5 MI. W. JCT. NC133, Brunswick, NC
Built 1986 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 1,200
SR1140
PoorOver: BR.LITTLE SHALLOTTE RVR.
1.1 MI.S.JCT.NC130, Brunswick, NC
Built 1990 Load: 58.9 t ADT: 2,900
NC133
PoorOver: MALLORY CREEK
4 MI S. JCT. US17, Brunswick, NC
Built 1991 Load: 59.8 t ADT: 7,600
SR1413
PoorOver: RICE CREEK
2.4 MI. N.JCT. SR1410, Brunswick, NC
Built 1997 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,400
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.