County profile · official public datasets

Moore County, NC

178 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.9% rated Good, 49.4% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

178
Public bridges: 48.9%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Moore County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 178
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Moore County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Moore County ranks #14 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Moore County, North Carolina contains 178 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.9% are rated “Good,” 49.4% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

178

Public highway bridges in Moore County

Good condition

48.9%

87 of 178 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.4%

88 of 178 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

3 of 178 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 178 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.9% (87)

Fair

49.4% (88)

Poor

1.7% (3)

Moore County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,950 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 983 crossings a day against 2,093 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 178 of 178 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.8% of Moore County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 178 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 48.9% 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 91.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1209 over JOES FORK, built 1979, carries 2,700 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,950 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

14
1930s

2
1940s

2
1950s

37
1960s

10
1970s

17
1980s

12
1990s

24
2000s

22
2010s

35
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Moore County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 6 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Moore County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Orange County	189	38.1%	54%	7.9%	1983
Moore County (this page)	178	48.9%	49.4%	1.7%	1981
Onslow County	172	49.4%	47.7%	2.9%	1995
Anson County	169	52.7%	43.2%	4.1%	1985
Lincoln County	169	45.6%	49.1%	5.3%	1984
Yadkin County	168	32.7%	57.7%	9.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (178 bridges here).

Allen County, LA · 178 bridges
Webster County, MS · 178 bridges
Clark County, MO · 178 bridges
Monroe County, MO · 178 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 178 Good 87 Fair 88 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Moore County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Moore County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,950 vehicle crossings a day

38.8% of Moore County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 91.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Moore 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 (87)

SR1403

SR2080

SR2005

SR1456

SR1840

SR1853

SR1838

SR1400

SR1251

KERR LAKE ROAD

NC24/27

SR1261

SR1640

SR1805

SR1809

NC22 NC24 NC27

SR1642

SR1281

SR2023

SR1419

NC24 NC27

SR1261

SR1428

SR1309

SR1276

NC5

SR1112

SR1122

SR1640

SR1003

SR1241

SR1838

SR1808

SR1002

SR1275

SR1638

SR1412SR 1412

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