County profile · official public datasets

Lee County, NC

98 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.1% rated Good, 42.9% Fair, 0% Poor.

98
Public bridges: 57.1%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lee County posts a top-1% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 1%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 98
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lee County ranks #1 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Lee County, North Carolina contains 98 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.1% are rated “Good,” 42.9% “Fair,” and 0% “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

Public highway bridges in Lee County

Good condition

57.1%

56 of 98 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.9%

42 of 98 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 98 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 98 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.1% (56)

Fair

42.9% (42)

Poor

0% (0)

31.6% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

31 of the 98 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 57.1% 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.

1940s

1
1950s

10
1960s

12
1970s

16
1980s

8
1990s

11
2000s

23
2010s

15
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Lee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 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 Lee County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Person County	106	37.7%	60.4%	1.9%	1986
Scotland County	101	44.6%	54.5%	1%	1983
Lee County (this page)	98	57.1%	42.9%	0%	1989
Bertie County	95	50.5%	46.3%	3.2%	1993
Graham County	94	35.1%	60.6%	4.3%	1979
Davie County	93	33.3%	62.4%	4.3%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (98 bridges here).

Boone County, AR · 98 bridges
Van Buren County, AR · 98 bridges
Dougherty County, GA · 98 bridges
Butler County, KY · 98 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges
Dubuque County, IA · avg 1989 · 346 bridges

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

All 98 Good 56 Fair 42 Poor 0

All bridges (98)

Sort:

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

31.6% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Lee 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

All bridges (98)

SR1527

SR1406

NC87N BUS.

US421NB NC87N BYP.

US421S NC87S BYP.

US421 NC87

SR1305

SR1002

SR1509

SR1162

SR1162

NC42

SR1318

SR1100

US421N NC87

US421(FUT) NBL COL

SR1144

SR1318

SR1500

SR1009

NC42

SR1521

SR1146

SR1423

SR1423

US1BUS

SR1133

US1 NBL

US421 NC87 SBL COL

US1/15/501 NC87BUS

US 421 SBL

US401BUS SR1400

SR1002

US15/501 NC87

SR1509

NC78

SR1500

US421N

US421 NC87N.BYP

SR1524

SR1545

SR1320

SR1538

SR1156

SR1002

SR1423

SR 1117

NC 42

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