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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Carteret County

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.

1920s

1
1950s

1
1960s

4
1970s

6
1980s

8
1990s

18
2000s

9
2010s

7
2020s

1

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.

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

All 55 Good 23 Fair 30 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (23)

Sort:

Carteret County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carteret County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,700 vehicle crossings a day

12.7% of Carteret County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 91.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carteret 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

Good-condition bridges (23)

OAK LEAF DR.

SR1316

SR1333

SR1243

SR1104

NC101

NC58

SR1325

NC58

NC101

SR1140

SR1125

SR1333

SR1335

US70

SR1174

SR1133

SR1154

MIMOSA BLVD.

SR1124

SR1124

NC24

NC24

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