Total bridges
231
Public highway bridges in Burke County
County profile · official public datasets
Burke County, NC
231 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.3% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 5.6% Poor.
- 231
- Public bridges
- 43.3%
- Good condition
- 5.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Burke County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 58th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 5.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 231
- public highway bridges
- 1981
- 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.
Burke County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Burke County ranks #58 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.6%). Burke County, North Carolina contains 231 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.3% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 5.6% “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
43.3%
100 of 231 rated 7-9
Fair condition
51.1%
118 of 231 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.6%
13 of 231 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#58 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 231 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 43.3% (100)
Fair 51.1% (118)
Poor 5.6% (13)
Burke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 73,200 vehicle crossings a day
That is 7.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,631 crossings a day against 3,115 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 231 of 231 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
44.2% of Burke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
102 of the 231 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 43.3% 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 28.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I-40 EBL over SILVER CREEK, built 1956, carries 20,750 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 73,200 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Burke County's bridges were built
231 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 8
1930–1939
8 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
53 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
22 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
31 bridges
- 1980s 17
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s 18
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
33 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
37 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.
How Burke County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Burke County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDowell County | 235 | 43.4% | 48.9% | 7.7% | 1981 |
| Jackson County | 234 | 39.7% | 47.4% | 12.8% | 1977 |
| Gaston County | 232 | 36.6% | 58.2% | 5.2% | 1980 |
| Burke County (this page) | 231 | 43.3% | 51.1% | 5.6% | 1981 |
| Rockingham County | 229 | 48.5% | 39.7% | 11.8% | 1987 |
| Pitt County | 228 | 64.5% | 32% | 3.5% | 1994 |
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 Burke 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 Burke County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (231 bridges here).
- Saline County, AR · 231 bridges
- Jones County, IA · 231 bridges
- Clay County, KS · 231 bridges
- Panola County, MS · 231 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (13)
SR1728
PoorOver: KLINGERMANS RUN CREEK
.05 MI.S.JCT.SR1729, Burke, NC
Built 1961 Load: 10.8 t ADT: 200
SR1439
PoorOver: IRISH CREEK
0.9 MI.E.JCT.SR1410, Burke, NC
Built 1974 Load: 11.7 t ADT: 550
SR1284
PoorOver: CANOE CREEK
.05 MI.S.JCT.NC126, Burke, NC
Built 1971 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 1,900
US70
PoorOver: SOUTHERN RR
.1 MI.E.JCT.SR1620, Burke, NC
Built 1940 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 5,600
SR1002
PoorOver: HENRY FORK CREEK
0.75 MI.S.JCT.SR1780, Burke, NC
Built 1959 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 2,700
SR1924
PoorOver: JACOB FORK CREEK
.7 MI.N.JCT.SR1907, Burke, NC
Built 1923 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 600
SR1147
PoorOver: CATAWBA RIVER
.87 MI.S.JCT.NC126, Burke, NC
Built 1959 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 3,100
SR1512
PoorOver: HOWARD CREEK
0.4 MI.E.JCT.SR1536, Burke, NC
Built 1976 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 500
SR1002
PoorOver: I-40
.2 MI.N.JCT.SR1780, Burke, NC
Built 1956 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 4,100
US64 NC18
PoorOver: JOHNS RIVER
.2 MI.S.JCT.SR1434, Burke, NC
Built 1934 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 11,500
US64 70
PoorOver: SOUTHERN RR
.6 MI.W.JCT.US64BUS, Burke, NC
Built 1955 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 20,000
I-40 EBL
PoorOver: SILVER CREEK
.3 MI.E.JCT.SR1142 RAMP, Burke, NC
Built 1956 Load: 33.5 t ADT: 20,750
SR1001
PoorOver: I-40
.2 MI.S.JCT.SR1740, Burke, NC
Built 1956 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 1,700
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.