County profile · official public datasets

Davidson County, NC

340 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.9% rated Good, 52.9% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

340
Public bridges: 42.9%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 41%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 340
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.

Davidson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Davidson County ranks #41 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Davidson County, North Carolina contains 340 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.9% are rated “Good,” 52.9% “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

340

Public highway bridges in Davidson County

Good condition

42.9%

146 of 340 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.9%

180 of 340 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

14 of 340 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 340 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.9% (146)

Fair

52.9% (180)

Poor

4.1% (14)

Davidson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 93,120 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.8% 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 6,651 crossings a day against 4,516 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 340 of 340 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

17.4% of Davidson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 340 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 42.9% 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 12.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I85NBUS US29 US70 over SR3346, built 1950, carries 11,750 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 93,120 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

31
1960s

11
1970s

31
1980s

81
1990s

79
2000s

44
2010s

48
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 81 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Davidson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 2nd-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 Davidson 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	348	67.2%	31.9%	0.9%	1992
Davidson County (this page)	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 Davidson 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 Davidson County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (340 bridges here).

Clark County, OH · 340 bridges
Vernon County, LA · 341 bridges
Ramsey County, MN · 341 bridges
Carter County, OK · 339 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 340 Good 146 Fair 180 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (146)

Sort:

Davidson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Davidson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 93,120 vehicle crossings a day

17.4% of Davidson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Davidson 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 (146)

SR1242

US52S

SR1243

SR1837

SR1454

ROCK BRIDGE ROAD

SR1468

SR2051

SR2284

SR2501

SR2550

SR1243

SR1186

SR1512

SR1221

SR1231

SR2226

SR1162

SR2060

SR3346

SR1843

SR1700

NC109

SR1860

NC8

SR2085

I85N

SR2060

I85S

SR3159

US52N

SR1741

SR1520

SR2522

SR1231

SR1781

SR1739

SR2085

MENDENHALL RD.

SR1892

SR2294

SR1141

OLD PLANK ROAD

SR2262

NC 47

SR2299

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