County profile · official public datasets

Nash County, NC

260 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35% rated Good, 60.4% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

260
Public bridges: 35%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 260
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Nash County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nash County ranks #50 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Nash County, North Carolina contains 260 public highway bridges. Roughly 35% are rated “Good,” 60.4% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

260

Public highway bridges in Nash County

Good condition

35%

91 of 260 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.4%

157 of 260 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

12 of 260 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 260 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35% (91)

Fair

60.4% (157)

Poor

4.6% (12)

Nash County's Poor-condition bridges carry 58,600 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,883 crossings a day against 5,004 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 260 of 260 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.2% of Nash County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 260 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 35% 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 26.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1714 over TAR RIVER, built 1959, carries 15,500 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 58,600 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

1
1940s

4
1950s

25
1960s

30
1970s

76
1980s

34
1990s

24
2000s

13
2010s

45
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Nash County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1984 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 Nash County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cleveland County	270	39.3%	50.4%	10.4%	1978
Nash County (this page)	260	35%	60.4%	4.6%	1983
Ashe County	247	33.6%	41.7%	24.7%	1984
Henderson County	245	35.5%	55.5%	9%	1979
Rowan County	245	55.5%	42.4%	2%	1993
Alamance County	244	48.4%	46.7%	4.9%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (260 bridges here).

Shoshone County, ID · 260 bridges
Jefferson County, IL · 260 bridges
Mitchell County, KS · 260 bridges
Trempealeau County, WI · 260 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 260 Good 91 Fair 157 Poor 12

Fair-condition bridges (157)

Sort:

Nash County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nash County's Poor-condition bridges carry 58,600 vehicle crossings a day

29.2% of Nash County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nash 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

Fair-condition bridges (157)

SR1150

SR1516

SR1915

SR1138

US64BUS

SR1506

SR1919

NC58

SR1512

GORHAM LN.

SR1530

SR1518

SR1981

SR1437

SR1603

SR1513

SR1405

SR2340

SR1515

US264ALT

NC33

SR1717

SR1124

SR1941

SR1713

NC43

SR1108

SR1124

SR1105

SR1601

SR1001

SR1435

SR1945

SR1544

US64 BUS

US301BYP S

SR1544

US64 E

US301BYP.N

US301N.BYP

SR1613

NC58

US64BYP.W.

US301

US301

US301S.BYP

I95

I95S

SR1321

US301

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