Total bridges
314
Public highway bridges in Durham County
County profile · official public datasets
Durham County, NC
314 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.7% rated Good, 60.8% Fair, 3.5% Poor.
- 314
- Public bridges
- 35.7%
- Good condition
- 3.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Durham County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 36%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 314
- public highway bridges
- 1984
- 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.
Durham County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Durham County ranks #36 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.5%). Durham County, North Carolina contains 314 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.7% are rated “Good,” 60.8% “Fair,” and 3.5% “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
35.7%
112 of 314 rated 7-9
Fair condition
60.8%
191 of 314 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.5%
11 of 314 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#36 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 314 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.7% (112)
Fair 60.8% (191)
Poor 3.5% (11)
Durham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 155,900 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 14,173 crossings a day against 17,308 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 314 of 314 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
35.4% of Durham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
111 of the 314 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 35.7% 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 32.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US15/US501NBL over SR1308, built 1956, carries 51,000 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 155,900 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Durham County's bridges were built
314 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
27 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
46 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
57 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
46 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
55 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
29 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Durham County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Durham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Durham County (this page) | 314 | 35.7% | 60.8% | 3.5% | 1984 |
| Surry County | 308 | 28.9% | 62% | 9.1% | 1979 |
| Rutherford County | 298 | 40.3% | 47.3% | 12.4% | 1974 |
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 Durham 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 Durham County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (314 bridges here).
- Jackson County, AL · 314 bridges
- Cloud County, KS · 314 bridges
- Douglas County, KS · 314 bridges
- Franklin County, MA · 314 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1984 here).
- Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
- Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
- El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
- Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (314)
UNIVERSITY DR.EXT.
GoodOver: SANDY CRK.TRIBUTARY A
0.1MI.S.JCT.IVY CRK. BLVD, Durham, NC
Built 2009 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 19,000
GOLDEN BELT PKWY.
GoodOver: LICK CREEK
.37 M EAST OF SHERRON RD, Durham, NC
Built 2004 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 100
PACES FERRY DRIVE
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
.06 M E. BLACK BOULDER TR, Durham, NC
Built 2002 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 101
BELLEVUE AVE.
PoorOver: ELLERBEE CREEK
0.4 MI.N.HILLSBOROUGH RD., Durham, NC
Built 1960 Load: 10.8 t ADT: 500
PETTIGREW STREET
PoorOver: CAMPUS DRIVE
0.2 MI.E.JCT.SWIFT AVENUE, Durham, NC
Built 1950 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 4,000
US15/US501NBL
PoorOver: SR1308
0.2MI.N.JCT.SR1303, Durham, NC
Built 1956 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 51,000
SR1110
PoorOver: LITTLE CREEK
0.1MI.S.JCT.SR1107, Durham, NC
Built 1979 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 13,000
I85NBL US15N
PoorOver: NEUSE RIVER/FALLS LAKE
4.0 MI.S.JCT.NC56, Durham, NC
Built 1969 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 25,750
I85S US15S
PoorOver: NEUSE RIVER/FALLS LAKE
4.0 MI S JCT NC56, Durham, NC
Built 1969 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 21,250
US501
PoorOver: ENO RIVER
3.8 MI. N. JCT. I85, Durham, NC
Built 1967 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 30,000
SR1811
PoorOver: CHUNKY PIPE CREEK
0.6 MI S JCT SR1813, Durham, NC
Built 1980 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 1,900
SR1303
PoorOver: SANDY CREEK OVERFLOW
0.2 MI E JCT SR1310, Durham, NC
Built 1981 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 6,400
SR1103
PoorOver: CROOKED CREEK
0.3 MI E JCT SR1118, Durham, NC
Built 1953 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 2,000
SR1468
PoorOver: MOUNTAIN CREEK
0.6 MI.W. OF JCT US501, Durham, NC
Built 1990 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 100
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.