County profile · official public datasets

Mecklenburg County, NC

746 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.4% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

746
Public bridges: 46.4%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 22%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 746
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.

Mecklenburg County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mecklenburg County ranks #22 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Mecklenburg County, North Carolina contains 746 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.4% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

746

Public highway bridges in Mecklenburg County

Good condition

46.4%

346 of 746 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.1%

381 of 746 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

19 of 746 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 746 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.4% (346)

Fair

51.1% (381)

Poor

2.5% (19)

Mecklenburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 564,250 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 29,697 crossings a day against 21,183 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 746 of 746 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.2% of Mecklenburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

203 of the 746 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 46.4% 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 20.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I277 & NC16 over US29/NC49 (GRAHAM ST.), built 1971, carries 115,000 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 564,250 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

7
1940s

10
1950s

45
1960s

60
1970s

115
1980s

102
1990s

140
2000s

131
2010s

114
2020s

18

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 140 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Mecklenburg County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 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 Mecklenburg County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wake County	760	53.8%	40.4%	5.8%	1992
Mecklenburg County (this page)	746	46.4%	51.1%	2.5%	1989
Guilford County	736	51.8%	42.9%	5.3%	1990
Buncombe County	555	34.6%	58.4%	7%	1978
Forsyth County	454	41.2%	49.8%	9%	1985
Randolph County	401	45.6%	52.9%	1.5%	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 Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (746 bridges here).

Fairfax County, VA · 751 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · 740 bridges
Champaign County, IL · 727 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · 721 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 746 Good 346 Fair 381 Poor 19

Good-condition bridges (346)

Sort:

Mecklenburg County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mecklenburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 564,250 vehicle crossings a day

27.2% of Mecklenburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mecklenburg 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 (346)

I277 NBL

NC24

SR1624

CHAMBERLINE ROAD

SR2158

BARTLETT ROAD

I77 NBL

HARLEE AVE

SR1490 EBL

SR1490 WBL

US74 WBLRamp

I85

SR2316

I485

CHOATE CIRCLE

I277 SBL

I77 RAMPS

SR2480

18TH STREET

I85 NBL

I85 SBL

SAXONBURY ROAD

SOUTH STREET

NC160

HAWTHORNE LN

SR2479

JOHN PRICE ROAD

SR2119

SR2110

I77 NBL

SR3125

SR3102

SR2831

SR1184

SR1155

SARDIS RD.NORTH

BRADFORD HILL LN.

WINFIELD CRK.PKWY.

CRESCENT KNOLL DR.

HIGHLAND CRK. PKWY

COLONIAL GARDEN DR

DONEGAL DRIVE

LIONESS STREET

GLENBURN LANE

N. CLARKSON STREET

BACKCREEK DRIVE

Related