Total bridges
169
Public highway bridges in Lincoln County
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.
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.
When Lincoln County's bridges were built
169 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
22 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
26 bridges
- 1970s 8
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s 14
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
36 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
32 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
21 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (9)
SR1217
PoorOver: POTT CREEK
0.2 MI. E. JCT. SR1956, Lincoln, NC
Built 1967 Load: 9.9 t ADT: 190
SR1360
PoorOver: ANDERSON CREEK
1.2 MI. S. JCT. SR1382, Lincoln, NC
Built 1950 Load: 11.7 t ADT: 1,000
SR1168
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
0.6 MI. N. JCT. SR1167, Lincoln, NC
Built 1961 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 210
SR1404
PoorOver: LEEPERS CREEK
0.7 MI.N.JCT.SR1403, Lincoln, NC
Built 1966 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 850
SR1406
PoorOver: PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY
0.1 MI. S. JCT. NC27, Lincoln, NC
Built 1934 Load: 23.5 t ADT: 4,100
NC182
PoorOver: INDIAN CREEK
0.7 MI. E. JCT. SR1167, Lincoln, NC
Built 1951 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 950
SR1282
PoorOver: CLARK CREEK
0.4 MI. W. JCT. BUS321, Lincoln, NC
Built 1964 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 4,800
NC150
PoorOver: S.FORK CATAWBA RIVER
0.2 MI. E. JCT. SR1222, Lincoln, NC
Built 1955 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 10,500
NC150
PoorOver: UT TO S. FORK CATAWBA RV
0.5 MI. E. JCT. SR1222, Lincoln, NC
Built 1955 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 10,500
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.