County profile · official public datasets

Gaston County, NC

232 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.6% rated Good, 58.2% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

232
Public bridges: 36.6%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gaston County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

54th
of 100 on Poor share: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 232
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Gaston County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gaston County ranks #54 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Gaston County, North Carolina contains 232 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.6% are rated “Good,” 58.2% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

232

Public highway bridges in Gaston County

Good condition

36.6%

85 of 232 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.2%

135 of 232 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

12 of 232 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 232 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.6% (85)

Fair

58.2% (135)

Poor

5.2% (12)

Gaston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 138,750 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 11,563 crossings a day against 7,612 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 232 of 232 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.5% of Gaston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

94 of the 232 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 36.6% 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 57.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I85 over ABERNATHY CREEK, built 1962, carries 80,000 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 138,750 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

24
1960s

52
1970s

25
1980s

53
1990s

26
2000s

15
2010s

21
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 6 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Gaston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1984 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 Gaston County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cabarrus County	236	53%	38.6%	8.5%	1993
McDowell County	235	43.4%	48.9%	7.7%	1981
Jackson County	234	39.7%	47.4%	12.8%	1977
Gaston County (this page)	232	36.6%	58.2%	5.2%	1980
Burke County	231	43.3%	51.1%	5.6%	1981
Rockingham County	229	48.5%	39.7%	11.8%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (232 bridges here).

Douglas County, IL · 232 bridges
Monroe County, IN · 232 bridges
Pearl River County, MS · 232 bridges
Atoka County, OK · 232 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 232 Good 85 Fair 135 Poor 12

Good-condition bridges (85)

Sort:

Gaston County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gaston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 138,750 vehicle crossings a day

40.5% of Gaston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gaston 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

Good-condition bridges (85)

SR1624

SR 2416

NC27

SR2424

SR1446

SR1836

SR1935

SR2014

SR1112

SR1443

SR1820

SR1620

SR2209

US321 NBL

US29 & US74 WBL

US321 SBL

SR1618

NC274

SR1934

I-85 NBL RAMP FI

SR2329

SR 9907

SR2209

SR1601

SR1918

MICKLEY AVE

SR1607

SR2466

SR2445

SR1819

SR2200

SR2423

I85

SR1807

BULB STREET

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