Total bridges
55
Public highway bridges in Carteret County
County profile · official public datasets
Carteret County, NC
55 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.8% rated Good, 54.5% Fair, 3.6% Poor.
- 55
- Public bridges
- 41.8%
- Good condition
- 3.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Carteret County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 39%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 55
- public highway bridges
- 1992
- 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.
Carteret County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carteret County ranks #39 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Carteret County, North Carolina contains 55 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.8% are rated “Good,” 54.5% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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
41.8%
23 of 55 rated 7-9
Fair condition
54.5%
30 of 55 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.6%
2 of 55 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#39 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 55 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.8% (23)
Fair 54.5% (30)
Poor 3.6% (2)
Carteret County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,700 vehicle crossings a day
That is 7.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,850 crossings a day against 4,659 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 55 of 55 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
12.7% of Carteret County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
7 of the 55 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 41.8% 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 91.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
NC58 over INTRACOSTAL WTRWY., built 1971, carries 18,000 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 19,700 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Carteret County's bridges were built
55 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1960s 4
1960–1969
4 bridges
- 1970s 6
1970–1979
6 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
8 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 6 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.
How Carteret County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Carteret County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1989 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay County | 63 | 44.4% | 52.4% | 3.2% | 1973 |
| Greene County | 62 | 43.5% | 56.5% | 0% | 1989 |
| Washington County | 59 | 54.2% | 44.1% | 1.7% | 1989 |
| Hertford County | 58 | 58.6% | 37.9% | 3.4% | 1998 |
| Carteret County (this page) | 55 | 41.8% | 54.5% | 3.6% | 1992 |
| Pasquotank County | 54 | 59.3% | 38.9% | 1.9% | 1998 |
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 Carteret 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 Carteret County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (55 bridges here).
- Park County, CO · 55 bridges
- Dixie County, FL · 55 bridges
- Winnebago County, IA · 55 bridges
- Logan County, KS · 55 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1992 here).
- Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
- Benton County, AR · avg 1992 · 410 bridges
- Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges
- Cameron County, TX · avg 1992 · 355 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (30)
SR1391
FairOver: HARLOWE CANAL
0.2 MI. E. JCT. NC101, Carteret, NC
Built 1950 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 100
SR1247
FairOver: NEWPORT RIVER
0.3 MI.N. OF JCT.SR1140, Carteret, NC
Built 1922 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 9,700
NC12 FERRY
FairOver: PAMLICO SOUND
CEDAR ISLAND FERRY, Carteret, NC
Built 1990 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 600
NC12
FairOver: WEST BAY CHANNEL
5.0 MI. N. JCT.. US70, Carteret, NC
Built 1991 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 800
NC12
FairOver: THOROFARE BAY CHANNEL
3.2 MI.N. OF JCT.US70, Carteret, NC
Built 1995 Load: 23.5 t ADT: 800
SR1176
FairOver: CALICO CREEK
0.6 MI.S.JCT.SR1180, Carteret, NC
Built 1960 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 5,600
NC12FERRY
FairOver: PAMLICO SOUND
CEDAR ISLAND FERRY, Carteret, NC
Built 1990 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 600
US70
FairOver: NEWPORT RIVER
6.0MI.E.JCT.NC24, Carteret, NC
Built 1964 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 18,000
US70
FairOver: SMYRNA CREEK
15.8 MI.E.JCT.NC101, Carteret, NC
Built 1977 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 2,700
NC58
FairOver: PETTIFORD CREEK
1.7MI.N.JCT.NC24, Carteret, NC
Built 1991 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 12,000
US70
FairOver: WILLISTON CREEK
0.4 MI. W OF JCT. SR1411, Carteret, NC
Built 1976 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 2,700
US70
FairOver: MARIA CREEK
0.2 MI. W. OF JCT. SR1371, Carteret, NC
Built 1976 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 2,500
NC101
FairOver: SR1160 ADAMS CRK.CANAL
1.8 MI. W. OF JCT SR1163, Carteret, NC
Built 1994 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 7,600
SR1182
FairOver: BOGUE SOUND & ICW
0.1 MI.S. OF JCT. US70, Carteret, NC
Built 1987 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 21,500
US70E
FairOver: NEWPORT RIVER
0.2 MI.W.JCT SR1140, Carteret, NC
Built 1965 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 13,000
US70
FairOver: OYSTER CREEK
6.5 MI.W.JCT.NC12, Carteret, NC
Built 1977 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 2,500
US70
FairOver: SALTERS CREEK
0.3 MI.W. JCT. NC12, Carteret, NC
Built 1982 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 1,800
SR1300
FairOver: FELTONS CREEK
0.3 MI N. OF JCT SR1163, Carteret, NC
Built 1994 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 1,200
SR1300
FairOver: BACK CREEK
5.5 MI.N. OF JCT.SR1163, Carteret, NC
Built 1997 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 890
US70 WBL
FairOver: NEWPORT RIVER
0.2 MI.W.JCT.SR1140, Carteret, NC
Built 1965 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 13,000
SR1124
FairOver: EAST PRONG BROAD CREEK
0.45MI.N.JCT.NC24, Carteret, NC
Built 2008 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 6,300
US70
FairOver: GALLANTS CHANNEL
7 MI.E.JCT.NC24, Carteret, NC
Built 2019 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 10,500
SR1300
FairOver: CULLIE CREEK
0.1 MI. N. OF JCT SR1316, Carteret, NC
Built 1997 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 890
SR1154
FairOver: BLACK CREEK
2.8 MI. W. JCT. SR1155, Carteret, NC
Built 2004 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 2,800
US70
FairOver: WARD CREEK
7.8 MI.E.JCT.NC101, Carteret, NC
Built 1977 Load: 58.9 t ADT: 8,600
SR1101
FairOver: WHITE OAK RIVER
0.1 MI. W. JCT. SR1100, Carteret, NC
Built 2006 Load: 59.8 t ADT: 2,500
SR1165
FairOver: RUSSELL CREEK
0.2 MI.N. OF JCT.NC101, Carteret, NC
Built 1987 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 850
SR1300
FairOver: NORTH RIVER
2.0 MI.N. OF JCT.SR1163, Carteret, NC
Built 1988 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,200
SR1137
FairOver: DEEP CREEK
0.1 MI. S. OF JCT. SR1133, Carteret, NC
Built 1993 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 310
SR1161
FairOver: EASTMAN CREEK
0.3 MI. S. OF JCT. SR1162, Carteret, NC
Built 1987 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 150
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.