Total bridges
118
Public highway bridges in Franklin County
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.
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.
When Franklin County's bridges were built
118 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 7
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
13 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
18 bridges
- 1980s 7
1980–1989
7 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
17 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
28 bridges
- 2020s 7
2020–2029
7 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (118)
SR1106
GoodOver: LITTLE RIVER
0.9 MI N JCT NC98, Franklin, NC
Built 2006 Load: 59.8 t ADT: 2,200
SR1203
GoodOver: MIDDLE CREEK
1.1 MI. N. JCT. SR1202, Franklin, NC
Built 2020 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 600
NC98
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
2.6 MI E. OF JCT NC39, Franklin, NC
Built 2017 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 2,600
SR1001
GoodOver: NORRIS CREEK
0.6 MI S JCT SR1720, Franklin, NC
Built 2019 Load: 60.7 t ADT: 2,000
SR1451
GoodOver: SANDY CREEK
1.6 MI W JCT NC561, Franklin, NC
Built 2013 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 260
SR1619
GoodOver: BEAR CREEK
0.9 MI S. OF SR1621, Franklin, NC
Built 1999 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 100
US401
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
0.9 MI. S. JCT. SR1103, Franklin, NC
Built 2019 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 11,000
SR1617
GoodOver: WILDCAT BRANCH
0.7 MI N JCT SR1624, Franklin, NC
Built 1996 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 260
SR1729
GoodOver: NORRIS CREEK
0.3 MI W. OF JCT NC39, Franklin, NC
Built 1997 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 670
SR1620
GoodOver: BEAR CREEK
0.3 MI E. OF SR1619, Franklin, NC
Built 1998 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 150
SR1748
GoodOver: TURKEY CREEK
1.4MI. S. OF JCT. SR1763, Franklin, NC
Built 1962 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 190
SR1237
PoorOver: PRONG OF BEAR SWAMP CREE
0.2 MI. N. JCT. SR1235, Franklin, NC
Built 1959 Load: 8.1 t ADT: 170
SR1103
PoorOver: CROOKED CREEK
0.9 MI S JCT SR1706, Franklin, NC
Built 1969 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 810
NC561
PoorOver: SANDY CREEK
3.7 MI. W. JCT. NC58, Franklin, NC
Built 1950 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 3,000
SR1731
PoorOver: CROOKED CREEK
1.2 MI.N.JCT.SR1736, Franklin, NC
Built 1971 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 670
US401
PoorOver: BUFFALO CREEK
1.2MI.N.JCT.SR1401, Franklin, NC
Built 1960 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 1,900
NC98
PoorOver: CROOKED CREEK
0.4 MI. E. JCT SR1001, Franklin, NC
Built 1962 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 7,000
SR1103
PoorOver: TRIB. OF MOCCASIN CR.
0.4 MI. W. JCT. SR1726, Franklin, NC
Built 1995 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 290
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.