County profile · official public datasets

Chatham County, NC

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.7% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 2.1% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 42.7%
Good condition: 2.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Chatham County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.1%
Poor-condition share: 241
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.

Chatham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chatham County ranks #20 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.1%). Chatham County, North Carolina contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.7% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “Fair,” and 2.1% “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

241

Public highway bridges in Chatham County

Good condition

42.7%

103 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.2%

133 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.1%

5 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 100

Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 241 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.7% (103)

Fair

55.2% (133)

Poor

2.1% (5)

Chatham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,150 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,430 crossings a day against 2,698 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 241 of 241 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34% of Chatham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 241 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 42.7% 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 76.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1008 over JORDAN LAKE, built 1976, carries 5,500 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,150 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

3
1940s

8
1950s

28
1960s

15
1970s

35
1980s

29
1990s

41
2000s

42
2010s

27
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

How Chatham County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Chatham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1985 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 Chatham County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Henderson County	245	35.5%	55.5%	9%	1979
Rowan County	245	55.5%	42.4%	2%	1993
Alamance County	244	48.4%	46.7%	4.9%	1987
Madison County	244	33.2%	45.1%	21.7%	1975
Chatham County (this page)	241	42.7%	55.2%	2.1%	1983
Cabarrus County	236	53%	38.6%	8.5%	1993

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 Chatham 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 Chatham County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (241 bridges here).

Sumter County, AL · 241 bridges
Hardin County, IA · 241 bridges
Iowa County, IA · 241 bridges
Barber County, KS · 241 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.

All 241 Good 103 Fair 133 Poor 5

All bridges (241)

Sort:

Chatham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chatham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,150 vehicle crossings a day

34% of Chatham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 76.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chatham 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 (241)

US421S

SR2170

SR2700

SR1108

SR2170

PROGRESS BLVD.

SR2700

SR1549

SR2189

NC902

SR1527

SR1004

SR1308

NC902

NC42

SR1316

NC42

SR1373

SR1006

SR1743

SR1506

SR2157

SR1335

SR1134

SR1310

SR1528

SR2225

SR1009

SR2700

SR1884

PROGRESS BLVD.

PROGRESS BLVD.

PROGRESS BLVD.

PROGRESS BLVD.

CAMPUS DRIVE

TECHNOLOGY WAY

SR1953

SR1303

SR1520

SR1007

SR1008

Related