County profile · official public datasets

Craven County, NC

147 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.9% rated Good, 49% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

147
Public bridges: 46.9%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Craven County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 40%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 147
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Craven County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Craven County ranks #40 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Craven County, North Carolina contains 147 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.9% are rated “Good,” 49% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

147

Public highway bridges in Craven County

Good condition

46.9%

69 of 147 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49%

72 of 147 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

6 of 147 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#40 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 147 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.9% (69)

Fair

49% (72)

Poor

4.1% (6)

Craven County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,230 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,705 crossings a day against 3,748 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 147 of 147 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.4% of Craven County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

33 of the 147 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 46.9% 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 64.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US17 over PALMETTO SWAMP, built 1953, carries 6,600 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,230 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

13
1970s

28
1980s

17
1990s

22
2000s

24
2010s

21
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Craven County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1987 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 Craven County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Montgomery County	151	51%	47.7%	1.3%	1986
Stokes County	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1988
Granville County	149	32.9%	61.1%	6%	1984
Edgecombe County	147	38.8%	57.8%	3.4%	1986
Craven County (this page)	147	46.9%	49%	4.1%	1988
Lenoir County	145	52.4%	44.8%	2.8%	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 Craven 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 Craven County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (147 bridges here).

Barren County, KY · 147 bridges
Avoyelles County, LA · 147 bridges
Marquette County, MI · 147 bridges
Carlton County, MN · 147 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 147 Good 69 Fair 72 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (69)

Sort:

Craven County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Craven County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,230 vehicle crossings a day

22.4% of Craven County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Craven 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 (69)

NC55

US17N NC55E.RAMP

RANGE ROAD

US17N.RAMP

ALLEN DRIVE

SR1440

US70

NC55

US70

US70 BUS WBL RAMP

SR1700

US17 N. RAMP

SR1100

US17S.BYP.

US17N BYP.

SR1464

SR1100

SR1003

SR1433

SR1005

SR1259

US17N RAMP

SR1621

SR1715

SR1003

SR1643

SR1775

SR1624

SR1627

NC118

SR1226

SR1470

SR1623

SR1264

SR1245

SR1470

US17

SR1470

SR1005

US17N US70E

US17S US70W

SR1747

SR1997

SR1615

SR1611

SR1746

SR1641

NC43S CONN.

SR1630

SR1476

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