County profile · official public datasets

Chowan County, NC

38 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63.2% rated Good, 34.2% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

38
Public bridges: 63.2%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chowan County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 24%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 38
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

Chowan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chowan County ranks #24 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Chowan County, North Carolina contains 38 public highway bridges. Roughly 63.2% are rated “Good,” 34.2% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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 Chowan County

Good condition

63.2%

24 of 38 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.2%

13 of 38 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

1 of 38 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#24 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 38 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63.2% (24)

Fair

34.2% (13)

Poor

2.6% (1)

Chowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,600 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,600 crossings a day against 2,043 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 38 of 38 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

13.2% of Chowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

5 of the 38 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 63.2% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US17BUS over PEMBROKE CREEK, built 1951, carries 3,600 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,600 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1950s

2
1960s

2
1970s

6
1980s

4
1990s

9
2000s

4
2010s

7
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 9 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Chowan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1992 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 Chowan County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pamlico County	45	33.3%	48.9%	17.8%	1985
Gates County	41	43.9%	53.7%	2.4%	1989
Dare County	40	47.5%	42.5%	10%	2000
Perquimans County	39	56.4%	41%	2.6%	1996
Chowan County (this page)	38	63.2%	34.2%	2.6%	1995
Camden County	28	42.9%	46.4%	10.7%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (38 bridges here).

Peach County, GA · 38 bridges
Brule County, SD · 38 bridges
Kinney County, TX · 38 bridges
Lipscomb County, TX · 38 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 38 Good 24 Fair 13 Poor 1

Good-condition bridges (24)

Sort:

Chowan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,600 vehicle crossings a day

13.2% of Chowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chowan 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 (24)

SR1319

US17BYP.

NC32

SR1100

NC32

NC-32

NC94

SR1170

NC32

US17BUS

SR1208

NC32

SR1234

SR1204

SR1316

SR1207

SR1226

SR1316

SR1200

US17N

SR1318

US17N

SR1303

SR1313

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