County profile · official public datasets

Cumberland County, NC

348 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67.2% rated Good, 31.9% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

348
Public bridges: 67.2%
Good condition: 0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cumberland County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.9%
Poor-condition share: 348
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.

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cumberland County ranks #4 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Cumberland County, North Carolina contains 348 public highway bridges. Roughly 67.2% are rated “Good,” 31.9% “Fair,” and 0.9% “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

348

Public highway bridges in Cumberland County

Good condition

67.2%

234 of 348 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.9%

111 of 348 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

3 of 348 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 348 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

67.2% (234)

Fair

31.9% (111)

Poor

0.9% (3)

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 132 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 44 crossings a day against 10,361 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 347 of 348 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

19.8% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 348 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 67.2% 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 98.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR2046 over TURNBULL CREEK, built 1993, carries 130 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 132 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

6
1950s

27
1960s

14
1970s

66
1980s

35
1990s

47
2000s

41
2010s

76
2020s

31

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 6 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Cumberland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 6 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cumberland County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Union County	353	46.5%	49.3%	4.2%	1991
Wilkes County	349	32.1%	53.3%	14.6%	1983
Cumberland County (this page)	348	67.2%	31.9%	0.9%	1992
Davidson County	340	42.9%	52.9%	4.1%	1988
Iredell County	335	35.2%	54.6%	10.1%	1981
Johnston County	318	42.1%	53.5%	4.4%	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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (348 bridges here).

Fillmore County, MN · 348 bridges
Mahoning County, OH · 348 bridges
Cumberland County, PA · 348 bridges
Pennington County, SD · 348 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 348 Good 234 Fair 111 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (111)

Sort:

Cumberland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cumberland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 132 vehicle crossings a day

19.8% of Cumberland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 98.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cumberland 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

Fair-condition bridges (111)

FB4

FIREBREAK 4

FIREBREAK 33

FIREBREAK 2

SR1843

SR1716

CHICKEN ROAD

WEISS AVENUE

SR2012

GRUBER ROAD

NC87S

SB ALL AMERICAN EX

NB ALL AMERICAN EX

RAY AVENUE

HAWLEY LANE

COOL SPRING STREET

SR1725

SR1132

NC24

SR1838

SR1414

SR2299W

SR1839

I95N

SR1736

LAKEVIEW RD.

SR1728

US401BUS.

NC24 NC87

US401BYP

NC210

SR1102

NC53

I95

SR1804

FILTER PLANT DRIVE

BLUE STREET

CAMPBELL AVENUE

NC210

SR1437

GREEN STREET

US301

NC210

NC53

US401

US401

ALL AMERICAN EXP.

REILLY ROAD

PLANK ROAD

BUTNER ROAD

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