County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, NC

169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.6% rated Good, 49.1% Fair, 5.3% Poor.

169
Public bridges: 45.6%
Good condition: 5.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

56th
of 100 on Poor share: 5.3%
Poor-condition share: 169
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #56 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Lincoln County, North Carolina contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.6% are rated “Good,” 49.1% “Fair,” and 5.3% “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

169

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

45.6%

77 of 169 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.1%

83 of 169 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.3%

9 of 169 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#56 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.6% (77)

Fair

49.1% (83)

Poor

5.3% (9)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,100 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,678 crossings a day against 3,007 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 169 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.9% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 169 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 45.6% 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 31.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC150 over S.FORK CATAWBA RIVER, built 1955, 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 33,100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

2
1940s

1
1950s

22
1960s

26
1970s

8
1980s

14
1990s

36
2000s

32
2010s

21
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1987 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 Lincoln County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Onslow County	172	49.4%	47.7%	2.9%	1995
Anson County	169	52.7%	43.2%	4.1%	1985
Lincoln County (this page)	169	45.6%	49.1%	5.3%	1984
Yadkin County	168	32.7%	57.7%	9.5%	1986
Brunswick County	166	39.2%	54.8%	6%	1991
Cherokee County	163	38.7%	57.1%	4.3%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (169 bridges here).

Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
Union County, IA · 169 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 169 Good 77 Fair 83 Poor 9

All bridges (169)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 33,100 vehicle crossings a day

34.9% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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 (169)

SR1115

SR1309

SR1309

SR1349

SR1349

SR1279

OLD NC 16

SR1373

NC27

SR1383

SR1001

NC150

SR1176

SR1140

SR1405

NC16 BUSINESS

US321 BUS

NORTH FLINT STREET

SR1130

NC150

US321 BUS

SR1940

SR1202

SR1406

NC 73

SR1276

SR1314

NC27 & NC150

NC73

NC27

NC73

NC73

US321 BUS

US321 BUS

NC73

SR1343

NC27

NC182

SR1373

SR1345

SR1169

NC73

NC150

US321 BUS

SR1242

SR2091

US321 BUS

SR1222

SR1200

SR1267

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