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.

When Mecklenburg County's bridges were built

746 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Wake County 760 5.8%
Mecklenburg County (this page) 746 2.5%
Guilford County 736 5.3%
Buncombe County 555 7%
Forsyth County 454 9%
Randolph County 401 1.5%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Poor-condition bridges (19)

SR5469

Poor

Over: COFFEY CREEK

0.5 MI. W. JCT. SR1156, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1975 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 7,400

HANGING MOSS TRL

Poor

Over: UT TO DUCK CREEK

0.15 MI. N. JCT. SR4274, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1988 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 100

WESTMONT DRIVE

Poor

Over: SOUTHERN RAILROAD

0.1MI.N.JCT.GRAHAM PKWY., Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1957 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 3,400

SR2442

Poor

Over: S.PRONG OF CLARKS CREEK

0.5 MI. S. JCT. SR2448, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1964 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 4,400

SR2822

Poor

Over: UT TO REEDY CREEK

1.0 MI. W. JCT. SR2805, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1981 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 8,600

SR1138 WBL

Poor

Over: SUGAR CREEK

0.15 MI.W.JCT.I77, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1977 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 12,750

SR2138

Poor

Over: TORRENCE CREEK

0.2 MI. S. JCT. SR2136, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1955 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 11,000

NC160

Poor

Over: SOUTHERN RAILROAD

0.6 MI. E. JCT. SR5901, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1956 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 14,000

NC49

Poor

Over: SOUTHERN RAILROAD

0.2 MI. S. JCT. I77, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1956 Load: 33.5 t ADT: 27,500

I277 & NC16

Poor

Over: US29/NC49 (GRAHAM ST.)

1.22 MI.N.JCT.US74 WBL, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1971 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 115,000

I277 & NC16

Poor

Over: NORTH COLLEGE STREET

0.84 MI.N.JCT.US74 WBL, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1967 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 94,500

WEST TYVOLA RD.

Poor

Over: SOUTHERN RAILROAD

0.3 MI.W.OLD STL.CR.RD., Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1945 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 11,500

DAVIDSON STREET

Poor

Over: I277 & NC16

0.5 MI. E. JCT. NC27, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1973 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 9,100

I277 & NC16

Poor

Over: BREVARD STREET

0.7 MI.N.JCT.US74 WBL, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1967 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 94,500

SR4886

Poor

Over: US74

0.35 MI. E. JCT. US29, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1970 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 22,000

BEATTIES FORD ROAD

Poor

Over: NC16 & SCL.RR

0.5 MI. N. JCT. I77, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1972 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 21,500

I277 NBL US74 EBL

Poor

Over: I77 US21

0.15 MI. S. JCT. NC27, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1970 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 47,500

I277 SBL US74 WBL

Poor

Over: I77 US21

0.1 MI.S.JCT.NC27, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1970 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 47,500

SR1441

Poor

Over: STEELE CREEK

0.9 MI.S.JCT.NC49, Mecklenburg, NC

Built 1960 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 12,000

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.