County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, NC

118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.6% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 5.9% Poor.

118
Public bridges: 46.6%
Good condition: 5.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

60th
of 100 on Poor share: 5.9%
Poor-condition share: 118
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #60 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Franklin County, North Carolina contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.6% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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

118

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

46.6%

55 of 118 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.5%

56 of 118 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.9%

7 of 118 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#60 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.6% (55)

Fair

47.5% (56)

Poor

5.9% (7)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,840 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,977 crossings a day against 1,843 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.7% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

41 of the 118 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 46.6% 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 50.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC98 over CROOKED CREEK, built 1962, carries 7,000 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,840 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

4
1950s

7
1960s

13
1970s

18
1980s

7
1990s

17
2000s

15
2010s

28
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1990) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1988 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 Franklin County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Martin County	124	45.2%	51.6%	3.2%	1988
Bladen County	123	64.2%	34.1%	1.6%	1992
New Hanover County	123	65%	31.7%	3.3%	1995
Franklin County (this page)	118	46.6%	47.5%	5.9%	1990
Alleghany County	117	47%	41.9%	11.1%	1982
Pender County	112	33.9%	63.4%	2.7%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (118 bridges here).

Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
Montrose County, CO · 118 bridges
Rabun County, GA · 118 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Brazoria County, TX · avg 1990 · 618 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 118 Good 55 Fair 56 Poor 7

Fair-condition bridges (56)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,840 vehicle crossings a day

34.7% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (56)

SR1739

SR1406

SR1127

SR1609

NC39

SR1611

SR1491

US401

NC56

US401

NC58

SR1436

SR1449

SR1737

SR1719

NC39

SR1125

NC56 NC581

NC39

US1A

NC39

NC561

NC581

NC98

SR1239

SR1002

NC98

NC39

US401

SR1747

NC39

SR1001

US401 NC39 NC56

US1S.

SR1748

NC58

SR1229

SR1419

US1N

SR1746

SR1436

US1

SR1457

SR1720

NC56

SR1467

NC56/NC581

SR1134

SR1616

SR1142

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