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.

Total bridges

454

Public highway bridges in Forsyth County

Good condition

41.2%

187 of 454 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.8%

226 of 454 rated 5-6

Poor condition

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.

1910s

1
1920s

10
1930s

11
1940s

9
1950s

46
1960s

60
1970s

40
1980s

55
1990s

85
2000s

34
2010s

67
2020s

36

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Forsyth County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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 454 Good 187 Fair 226 Poor 41

All bridges (454)

Sort:

Forsyth County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Forsyth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 741,550 vehicle crossings a day

35.9% of Forsyth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 10.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Forsyth 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

All bridges (454)

I40 WBL

I-285NBL US52 NBL

SR4325

US52 NBL

NC67 SBL

SR2643

NC150 NBL

US52

NC150 SBL

NC 74

I74

SR2931

US52 SBL

I40 BUS

NC67

US52 US311 NC8

SR1301

US52 US311

SR1001

US52 & NC8

SR1634

SR2207

I40 EBL

SR4325

SR1725

SR1152

I40 BUS US158/421

I40 WBL

I40 WBL US311 NBL

SR2983

NC67

SR2760

I40 BUS EBL

NC8

US52 US311 NC8

SR2264

I40 BUS

BOLTON STREET

SR1840 NBL

US158

NC8

I285/US52 SBL

I40 EBL US311 SBL

SR1600

I40 BUS WBL

SR2643

SR2687

SR2667

US158

SR1672

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