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.

Total bridges

231

Public highway bridges in Burke County

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.

1920s

4
1930s

8
1940s

3
1950s

53
1960s

22
1970s

31
1980s

17
1990s

18
2000s

33
2010s

37
2020s

5

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Burke County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 231 Good 100 Fair 118 Poor 13

All bridges (231)

Sort:

Burke County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Burke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 73,200 vehicle crossings a day

44.2% of Burke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Burke 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 (231)

SR1918

SR1761

US64

US64

US64

NC18

SR1116

I40

I-40

I-40 WBL

SR1965

SR1621

SR1805

SR1001

US64BUS

US64

SR1233

US70 BYPASS

I-40 WBL

SR1619

SR1618

I-40 EBL

NC181

NC126

US64 NC18

NC18

US64 NC18

SR1704

SR1142

SR1755

NC181

SR1113

SR1501

SR1102

SR1102

SR1223

SR1722

SR1133

SR1611

US64 WBL NC18

I-40 EBL

RAND STREET

SR1402

NC181

NC126

SR1653

NC181

SR1922

SR1924

I-40 WBL

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