County profile · official public datasets

Harnett County, NC

134 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.7% rated Good, 44.8% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

134
Public bridges: 50.7%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 49%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 134
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Harnett County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Harnett County ranks #49 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Harnett County, North Carolina contains 134 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.7% are rated “Good,” 44.8% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

134

Public highway bridges in Harnett County

Good condition

50.7%

68 of 134 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.8%

60 of 134 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

6 of 134 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 134 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.7% (68)

Fair

44.8% (60)

Poor

4.5% (6)

Harnett County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,654 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,609 crossings a day against 3,095 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 134 of 134 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.8% of Harnett County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 134 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 50.7% 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 72.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I95S over US421 NC55, built 1955, carries 28,750 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,654 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1940s

9
1950s

18
1960s

16
1970s

12
1980s

13
1990s

26
2000s

10
2010s

21
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Harnett County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1981 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 Harnett County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hoke County	136	39%	35.3%	25.7%	1983
Harnett County (this page)	134	50.7%	44.8%	4.5%	1983
Swain County	129	25.6%	62.8%	11.6%	1973
Mitchell County	127	35.4%	39.4%	25.2%	1981
Polk County	127	35.4%	53.5%	11%	1978
Martin County	124	45.2%	51.6%	3.2%	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 Harnett 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 Harnett County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (134 bridges here).

Anchorage County, AK · 134 bridges
Knott County, KY · 134 bridges
Murray County, MN · 134 bridges
Steele County, MN · 134 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 134 Good 68 Fair 60 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (68)

Sort:

Harnett County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Harnett County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,654 vehicle crossings a day

38.8% of Harnett County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 72.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Harnett 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 (68)

NURSERY ROAD

DELISHI ROAD

NC210

US401

NC27

TRAIL

US 421 NC 27

SR1271

NC27

NC27

NC27

SR1412

US421

SR1726

NC27

SR1769

SR1441

SR1735

SR1516

NC55

SR 2005

SR1130

SR2045

SR1558

SR1250

SR2054

NC55

SR2016

SR1234

SR2002

SR1002

SR1403

SR1403

SR1002

SR1415

SR1725

SR1229

US401S

SR1415

SR1210

SR2215

SR1722

SR1769

NC24

SR2027

SR1722

SR1544

SR1718

SR1516

SR2031

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