Total bridges
201
Public highway bridges in Caldwell County
County profile · official public datasets
Caldwell County, NC
201 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.8% rated Good, 55.7% Fair, 8.5% Poor.
- 201
- Public bridges
- 35.8%
- Good condition
- 8.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Caldwell County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 71st
- of 100 on Poor share
- 8.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 201
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Caldwell County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Caldwell County ranks #71 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.5%). Caldwell County, North Carolina contains 201 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.8% are rated “Good,” 55.7% “Fair,” and 8.5% “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
35.8%
72 of 201 rated 7-9
Fair condition
55.7%
112 of 201 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.5%
17 of 201 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#71 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 201 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.8% (72)
Fair 55.7% (112)
Poor 8.5% (17)
Caldwell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 73,020 vehicle crossings a day
That is 11.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,295 crossings a day against 1,678 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 201 of 201 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
39.3% of Caldwell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
79 of the 201 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 35.8% 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 30.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US321NBL over LAKE HICKORY, built 1983, carries 22,500 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 73,020 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Caldwell County's bridges were built
201 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 5
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 17
1950–1959
17 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
44 bridges
- 1970s 13
1970–1979
13 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
31 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
34 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
21 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
25 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Caldwell County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Caldwell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 5 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplin County | 208 | 33.2% | 59.1% | 7.7% | 1988 |
| Wayne County | 208 | 43.8% | 51.9% | 4.3% | 1991 |
| Caldwell County (this page) | 201 | 35.8% | 55.7% | 8.5% | 1983 |
| Watauga County | 200 | 43.5% | 47% | 9.5% | 1984 |
| Sampson County | 196 | 50% | 46.9% | 3.1% | 1994 |
| Wilson County | 195 | 48.2% | 50.8% | 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 Caldwell 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 Caldwell County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (201 bridges here).
- Williamson County, IL · 201 bridges
- Hancock County, IN · 201 bridges
- Pocahontas County, IA · 201 bridges
- McCracken County, KY · 201 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1983 here).
- Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
- Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (17)
SR1571
PoorOver: KINGS CREEK
75 FT.W.JCT.SR1552, Caldwell, NC
Built 1965 Load: 10.8 t ADT: 1,000
SR1519
PoorOver: WARRIOR CREEK
.1 MI.E.JCT.NC268, Caldwell, NC
Built 1958 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 350
SR1372
PoorOver: YADKIN RIVER
3.1 MI.N.JCT.US321, Caldwell, NC
Built 1966 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 310
SR1765
PoorOver: UPPER LITTLE RIVER
200 FT.S.JCT.SR1788, Caldwell, NC
Built 1962 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 30
SR1002
PoorOver: GUNPOWDER CREEK
.6 MI.S.JCT.SR1802, Caldwell, NC
Built 1974 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 5,100
SR1740
PoorOver: UPPER LITTLE RIVER
0.1 MI.S.JCT.SR1744, Caldwell, NC
Built 1976 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 700
SR1574
PoorOver: JONES CREEK
10 FT.N.JCT.SR1501, Caldwell, NC
Built 1967 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 100
SR1719
PoorOver: UPPER LITTLE RIVER
100 FT.S.JCT.SR1788, Caldwell, NC
Built 1976 Load: 23.5 t ADT: 700
US321SBL
PoorOver: LAKE HICKORY
.15 MI.S.JCT.SR1760, Caldwell, NC
Built 1962 Load: 23.5 t ADT: 22,250
US64 NC18
PoorOver: GREASY CREEK
100 FT.W.JCT.SR1933, Caldwell, NC
Built 1960 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 18,000
SR1703
PoorOver: UT TO KINGS CREEK
150 FT.S.JCT.NC18, Caldwell, NC
Built 1959 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 100
ARROWOOD STREET
PoorOver: LOWER CREEK
125FT.E.JCT.NC18, Caldwell, NC
Built 1960 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 10
SR1927
PoorOver: ABINGDON CREEK
.1 MI.N.JCT.US64 NC18, Caldwell, NC
Built 1952 Load: 33.5 t ADT: 300
SR1367
PoorOver: THUNDERHOLE CREEK
200 FT.S.JCT.SR1366, Caldwell, NC
Built 1960 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 200
SR1545
PoorOver: ZACKS FORK CREEK
200 FT.S.JCT.SR1511, Caldwell, NC
Built 1950 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 550
SR1372
PoorOver: YADKIN RIVER
1.7 MI.NE.JCT.US321, Caldwell, NC
Built 1995 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 820
US321NBL
PoorOver: LAKE HICKORY
.15 MI.S.JCT.SR1760, Caldwell, NC
Built 1983 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 22,500
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.