County profile · official public datasets

Duplin County, NC

208 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.2% rated Good, 59.1% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

208
Public bridges: 33.2%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

69th
of 100 on Poor share: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 208
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.

Duplin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Duplin County ranks #69 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Duplin County, North Carolina contains 208 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.2% are rated “Good,” 59.1% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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

208

Public highway bridges in Duplin County

Good condition

33.2%

69 of 208 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.1%

123 of 208 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

16 of 208 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#69 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 208 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.2% (69)

Fair

59.1% (123)

Poor

7.7% (16)

Duplin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,750 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 984 crossings a day against 3,222 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 208 of 208 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

17.3% of Duplin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 208 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 33.2% 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 27.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC241 over LIMESTONE CREEK, built 1950, carries 4,400 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15,750 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

2
1950s

8
1960s

14
1970s

16
1980s

59
1990s

47
2000s

26
2010s

24
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.4% 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 Duplin County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Duplin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% 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 Duplin County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	208	43.8%	51.9%	4.3%	1991
Duplin County (this page)	208	33.2%	59.1%	7.7%	1988
Caldwell County	201	35.8%	55.7%	8.5%	1983
Watauga County	200	43.5%	47%	9.5%	1984
Sampson County	196	50%	46.9%	3.1%	1994
Wilson County	195	48.2%	50.8%	1%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (208 bridges here).

Muscogee County, GA · 208 bridges
Posey County, IN · 208 bridges
Marshall County, KY · 208 bridges
Caldwell County, MO · 208 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 208 Good 69 Fair 123 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (123)

Sort:

Duplin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Duplin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,750 vehicle crossings a day

17.3% of Duplin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Duplin 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 (123)

I40 WBL

I40E

NC41 NC50

SR1723

SR1519

SR1170

SR1300

NC41

SR1304

SR1102

NC903

SR1129

SR1004

SR1306

SR1970

SR1912

SR1700

SR1964

SR1826

SR1141

SR1908

SR1306

SR1700

SR1528

SR1148

NC111 NC903

SR1141

SR1108

SR1700

SR1922

I40

NC903

SR1920

SR1737

NC903

SR1362

SR1140

NC50

SR1141

SR1162

SR1921

SR1107

SR1958

SR1953

SR1551

SR1801

SR1953

SR1901

NC403

SR1118

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