Total bridges
454
Public highway bridges in Forsyth County
County profile · official public datasets
Forsyth County, NC
454 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.2% rated Good, 49.8% Fair, 9% Poor.
- 454
- Public bridges
- 41.2%
- Good condition
- 9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Forsyth County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 74th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 9%
- Poor-condition share
- 454
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Forsyth County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Forsyth County ranks #74 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9%). Forsyth County, North Carolina contains 454 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.2% are rated “Good,” 49.8% “Fair,” and 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.
Good condition
41.2%
187 of 454 rated 7-9
Fair condition
49.8%
226 of 454 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9%
41 of 454 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#74 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 454 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.2% (187)
Fair 49.8% (226)
Poor 9% (41)
Forsyth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 741,550 vehicle crossings a day
That is 9.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 18,087 crossings a day against 12,811 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 454 of 454 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
35.9% of Forsyth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
163 of the 454 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 41.2% 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 10.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US52 over 25TH STREET, built 1964, carries 79,000 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 41-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 741,550 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Forsyth County's bridges were built
454 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 10
1920–1929
10 bridges
- 1930s 11
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
46 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
60 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
40 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
55 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
85 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
34 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
67 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
36 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 85 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Forsyth County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Forsyth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1986 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buncombe County | 555 | 34.6% | 58.4% | 7% | 1978 |
| Forsyth County (this page) | 454 | 41.2% | 49.8% | 9% | 1985 |
| Randolph County | 401 | 45.6% | 52.9% | 1.5% | 1988 |
| 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 |
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 Forsyth 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 Forsyth County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (454 bridges here).
- Hamilton County, IN · 454 bridges
- Somerset County, PA · 454 bridges
- Woodbury County, IA · 455 bridges
- Hunt County, TX · 456 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (454)
NC8
PoorOver: TRICK-UM CREEK
0.1 MI. S. JCT. SR1920, Forsyth, NC
Built 1978 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 5,800
SR4319
PoorOver: WEST FORK DEEP RIVER
0.2 MI. E. JCT. NC66, Forsyth, NC
Built 1992 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 4,000
US311
PoorOver: BRUSHY FORK CREEK
1.4 MI. N. JCT. SR4325, Forsyth, NC
Built 1970 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 11,500
CHESHAM DR.
PoorOver: KERNERS MILLCREEK
0.3MI.N.JCT.REGENTS PARK, Forsyth, NC
Built 1960 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 750
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.