Total bridges
40
Public highway bridges in Dare County
County profile · official public datasets
Dare County, NC
40 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.5% rated Good, 42.5% Fair, 10% Poor.
- 40
- Public bridges
- 47.5%
- Good condition
- 10%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Dare County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- 80th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 10%
- Poor-condition share
- 40
- public highway bridges
- 2000
- 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.
Dare County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dare County ranks #80 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10%). Dare County, North Carolina contains 40 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.5% are rated “Good,” 42.5% “Fair,” and 10% “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.
Good condition
47.5%
19 of 40 rated 7-9
Fair condition
42.5%
17 of 40 rated 5-6
Poor condition
10%
4 of 40 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#80 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 40 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 47.5% (19)
Fair 42.5% (17)
Poor 10% (4)
Dare County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,225 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,556 crossings a day against 2,912 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 40 of 40 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
12.5% of Dare County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
5 of the 40 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 47.5% 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 53% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
NC12 over THE SLASH, built 1956, carries 3,300 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 6,225 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Dare County's bridges were built
40 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 2
1960–1969
2 bridges
- 1970s 1
1970–1979
1 bridges
- 1980s 2
1980–1989
2 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
9 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
14 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 2000, 14 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.
How Dare County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Dare County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 2000 against a peer-group mean of 1991 is 9 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| 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 (this page) | 40 | 47.5% | 42.5% | 10% | 2000 |
| Perquimans County | 39 | 56.4% | 41% | 2.6% | 1996 |
| Chowan County | 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 Dare 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 Dare County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (40 bridges here).
- Taliaferro County, GA · 40 bridges
- Clark County, ID · 40 bridges
- St. John the Baptist County, LA · 40 bridges
- Douglas County, MN · 40 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (2000 here).
- Seminole County, FL · avg 2000 · 177 bridges
- Broomfield County, CO · avg 2000 · 66 bridges
- Aleutians East County, AK · avg 2000 · 16 bridges
- Collin County, TX · avg 1998 · 1,127 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (17)
COVERED BRIDGE RD
FairOver: JEAN GUITE CREEK
0.5 MI. W. JCT. SR1206, Dare, NC
Built 1988 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 100
COVERED BRIDGE RD.
FairOver: CREEK
0.25 MI. W. JCT. SR1206, Dare, NC
Built 2015 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 100
NC12FERRY
FairOver: HATTERAS INLET
S.END NC12, Dare, NC
Built 1991 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 4,300
NC12 FERRY
FairOver: HATTERAS INLET
S.END NC12, Dare, NC
Built 1991 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 4,300
NC12 FERRY
FairOver: HATTERAS INLET
S.END NC12, Dare, NC
Built 1991 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 2,200
E.DOGWOOD TRAIL
FairOver: GREAT BLUE HERON CANAL
0.1 MI.E.JCT.S.DOGWOOD TR, Dare, NC
Built 1990 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 200
US64
FairOver: POND ISLAND
2.7 MI.E. OF NC345, Dare, NC
Built 1994 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 21,000
S.DOGWOOD TRAIL
FairOver: PELICAN CANAL
.5 MI.N.JCT.YAUPON TR., Dare, NC
Built 1997 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 500
SR1164
FairOver: PAMLICO SOUND
0.2 MI. S. JCT. NC64, Dare, NC
Built 2000 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 50
SR1492 FERRY RAMP
FairOver: PAMLICO SOUND
0.1 MI. N. JCT. HWY12, Dare, NC
Built 2001 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 50
SR1217
FairOver: CR OFF KITTY HAWK BAY
0.3 MI E. OF JCT SR1219, Dare, NC
Built 1994 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 12,000
US158
FairOver: JEAN GUITE CREEK
0.3 MI.W. JCT. SR1206, Dare, NC
Built 1966 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 27,000
US64
FairOver: ROANOKE SOUND
1.2 MI. E. JCT. US64 BUS, Dare, NC
Built 1990 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 21,000
NC12
FairOver: CREEK OFF THE SLASH
.08 MI.N. OF JCT.SR1241, Dare, NC
Built 2004 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 2,200
NC400
FairOver: DOUGHS CREEK
0.4 MI.E.JCT.US64, Dare, NC
Built 1983 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 720
SR1141
FairOver: CREEK
0.1 MI.S.JCT.SR1142, Dare, NC
Built 2014 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 320
US64
FairOver: CANAL
.02 MI W JCT US264, Dare, NC
Built 1970 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 4,600
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.