County profile · official public datasets

New Hanover County, NC

123 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65% rated Good, 31.7% Fair, 3.3% Poor.

123
Public bridges: 65%
Good condition: 3.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

New Hanover County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.3%
Poor-condition share: 123
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

New Hanover County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, New Hanover County ranks #33 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). New Hanover County, North Carolina contains 123 public highway bridges. Roughly 65% are rated “Good,” 31.7% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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.

Total bridges

123

Public highway bridges in New Hanover County

Good condition

65%

80 of 123 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.7%

39 of 123 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.3%

4 of 123 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 123 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65% (80)

Fair

31.7% (39)

Poor

3.3% (4)

New Hanover County's Poor-condition bridges carry 74,900 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 18,725 crossings a day against 11,541 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 123 of 123 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

14.6% of New Hanover County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 123 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 65% 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 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I40 US117 NC132 over SMITH CREEK, built 1985, carries 51,000 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 74,900 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1950s

10
1960s

6
1970s

4
1980s

22
1990s

9
2000s

44
2010s

20
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest New Hanover County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for New Hanover County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mitchell County	127	35.4%	39.4%	25.2%	1981
Polk County	127	35.4%	53.5%	11%	1978
Martin County	124	45.2%	51.6%	3.2%	1988
Bladen County	123	64.2%	34.1%	1.6%	1992
New Hanover County (this page)	123	65%	31.7%	3.3%	1995
Franklin County	118	46.6%	47.5%	5.9%	1990

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (123 bridges here).

Jackson County, GA · 123 bridges
Crawford County, IN · 123 bridges
Hickman County, KY · 123 bridges
Ward County, ND · 123 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges

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

All 123 Good 80 Fair 39 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (80)

Sort:

New Hanover County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

New Hanover County's Poor-condition bridges carry 74,900 vehicle crossings a day

14.6% of New Hanover County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How New Hanover 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 (80)

RIVER ROAD

NC133

US74E.RAMP

US74W

SR2103

PINE VALLEY DR.

US74 WBL

US74

US74E

US421 SR1140

US421 FERRY

RIVER ROAD

I40 RAMP W

SR1409

US74EBL

NC417

US74E NC133

GREENVILLE LOOP RD

SR1002

US74E

I140E US17N.RMP

US74(SMITH CRK.PK)

I140 EB/US17BYP NB

I140 W US17 BYPS

SR1576

SR2812

I140 EBL US17 NBL

I-140E US17N

I140W US17S

I-140E US17N

I40E

I40W US17 NC132

I-140 US17BYP.RAMP

US74 RMP.BD

I-140E US17N

I-140W US17S

SR1411

BEASLEY RD

US74 WBL

US17 RAMP

US74RMP.

I40W US17S

US421N

US421S

FIFTH AVE.

I140W US17S.RAMP

SR1332

SR1627 RAMP B

SR1302

SUMMER REST RD.

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