County profile · official public datasets

Halifax County, NC

158 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.7% rated Good, 61.4% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

158
Public bridges: 36.7%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Halifax County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 158
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Halifax County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Halifax County ranks #18 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Halifax County, North Carolina contains 158 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.7% are rated “Good,” 61.4% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

158

Public highway bridges in Halifax County

Good condition

36.7%

58 of 158 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.4%

97 of 158 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

3 of 158 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 158 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.7% (58)

Fair

61.4% (97)

Poor

1.9% (3)

Halifax County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,150 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,717 crossings a day against 2,070 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 158 of 158 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.3% of Halifax County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

70 of the 158 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 36.7% 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 94.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC48 over ROANOKE RIVER, built 1957, carries 10,500 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,150 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

14
1960s

43
1970s

9
1980s

6
1990s

25
2000s

24
2010s

25
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Halifax County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1985 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 Halifax County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cherokee County	163	38.7%	57.1%	4.3%	1977
Stanly County	163	57.7%	39.3%	3.1%	1985
Transylvania County	162	40.7%	45.7%	13.6%	1981
Halifax County (this page)	158	36.7%	61.4%	1.9%	1984
Beaufort County	154	51.9%	40.9%	7.1%	1996
Richmond County	154	57.1%	41.6%	1.3%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (158 bridges here).

Napa County, CA · 158 bridges
Wells County, IN · 158 bridges
Jackson County, MI · 158 bridges
Yalobusha County, MS · 158 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 158 Good 58 Fair 97 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (58)

Sort:

Halifax County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Halifax County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,150 vehicle crossings a day

44.3% of Halifax County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Halifax 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 (58)

NC903

NC561

SR1411

SR1412

SR1804

SR1600

SR1601

SR1003

SR1616

SR1745

SR1434

SR1100

US258

SR1304

SR1001

SR1304

US301 NC125 NC903

NC 481

SR1003

SR1100

SR1100

SR1104

SR1520

SR1310

SR1333

SR1613

SR1103

SR1131

SR1450

SR1001

SR1002

NC561

I95N

I95 NBL

I95S

SR1001

SR1207

SR1426

SR1002

SR1306

SR1315

US301 NC481

SR1105

SR1424

NC561

NC561

SR1751

SR1611

SR1105

SR1322

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