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.

When New Hanover County's bridges were built

123 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

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

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 Poor
Mitchell County 127 25.2%
Polk County 127 11%
Martin County 124 3.2%
Bladen County 123 1.6%
New Hanover County (this page) 123 3.3%
Franklin County 118 5.9%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (123)

SR1409RAMP

Good

Over: I-40 US17 NC140

2.3 MI. W. JCT. US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2020 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 100

I140S COL US17S

Good

Over: I-40

4.0 MI. S. JCT. US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2004 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 13,250

I140S US17S

Good

Over: I40

4.0 MI. S. JCT. US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2004 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 13,250

RIVER ROAD

Good

Over: NORTH LAKE

1.25 MI.S.JCT.SR1209, New Hanover, NC

Built 2015 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 7,700

US117 NC132

Good

Over: I40

0.78 MI. S. JCT. SR1322, New Hanover, NC

Built 1985 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 11,750

SR2812

Good

Over: SCL RR

0.9 MI.N.JCT.SR1627, New Hanover, NC

Built 2011 Load: 57.1 t ADT: 2,000

I40 WBL

Good

Over: SR1002

6.3 MI. E. OF JCT NC 210, New Hanover, NC

Built 1984 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 19,000

I40E

Good

Over: SR1002

6.3 MI. E. JCT. NC210, New Hanover, NC

Built 1984 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 19,000

US17 BYP N COLL

Good

Over: I40 RAMP W

JCT. US17BYP. NB & I-40, New Hanover, NC

Built 2004 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 12,500

I-140W US17S

Good

Over: NC133

4MI. N. JCT US421, New Hanover, NC

Built 2005 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 9,000

I40E US17N

Good

Over: NC133

4.0 MI. N. JCT US421, New Hanover, NC

Built 2005 Load: 58.9 t ADT: 16,500

US17 BYP S

Good

Over: I40 RAMP W

5MI. S. JCT US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2004 Load: 61.6 t ADT: 10,000

US74W NC133 RAMP

Good

Over: WET LANDS

JCT.US74 & MCRAE ST., New Hanover, NC

Built 2005 Load: 63.5 t ADT: 11,125

SR1409RAMP

Good

Over: I-40 US17 NC140

2.5 MI W JCT US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2022 Load: 64.4 t ADT: 100

I140S US17SBYP CON

Good

Over: I40W RAMP

5MI. S. JCT US17, New Hanover, NC

Built 2004 Load: 66.2 t ADT: 8,833

I140E US17BYP NB

Good

Over: SR1331

1.7MI. S. JCT.NC133, New Hanover, NC

Built 2007 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 11,750

I140 W /US17S BYP

Good

Over: SR1331

1.7 MI.S.JCT.US117/NC133, New Hanover, NC

Built 2007 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 12,000

ONE TREE HILL WAY

Good

Over: SMITH CREEK

0.4MI.E.JCT.STANLEY ST., New Hanover, NC

Built 2019 Load: 71.6 t ADT: 100

SR1336

Good

Over: I40

0.5 MI.E. OF JCT.SR1318, New Hanover, NC

Built 1983 Load: 75.2 t ADT: 5,500

US76

Poor

Over: BANKS CHANNEL

0.5 MI.E. OF JCT.US74, New Hanover, NC

Built 1972 Load: 6.3 t ADT: 13,500

6TH STREET

Poor

Over: ABANDONED S.C.L. RR.

.1 MI.N.JCT.W.CAMPBELL ST, New Hanover, NC

Built 1911 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 400

US74

Poor

Over: BANKS CHANNEL

0.8 MI. W. OF JCT. US76, New Hanover, NC

Built 1957 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 10,000

I40 US117 NC132

Poor

Over: SMITH CREEK

0.1 MI.E. OF JCT.SR2048, New Hanover, NC

Built 1985 Load: 41.7 t ADT: 51,000

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.