Total bridges
189
Public highway bridges in Orange County
County profile · official public datasets
Orange County, NC
189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.1% rated Good, 54% Fair, 7.9% Poor.
- 189
- Public bridges
- 38.1%
- Good condition
- 7.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Orange County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 70th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 7.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 189
- 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.
Orange County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orange County ranks #70 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Orange County, North Carolina contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.1% are rated “Good,” 54% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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.
Good condition
38.1%
72 of 189 rated 7-9
Fair condition
54%
102 of 189 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.9%
15 of 189 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#70 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 38.1% (72)
Fair 54% (102)
Poor 7.9% (15)
Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 125,010 vehicle crossings a day
That is 6.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8,334 crossings a day against 5,077 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 189 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
37% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
70 of the 189 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 38.1% 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 26.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I85S over SR1713, built 1958, carries 32,750 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 125,010 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Orange County's bridges were built
189 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
40 bridges
- 1960s 15
1960–1969
15 bridges
- 1970s 8
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
24 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
33 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
20 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
32 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Orange County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Orange County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caldwell County | 201 | 35.8% | 55.7% | 8.5% | 1983 |
| Watauga County | 200 | 43.5% | 47% | 9.5% | 1984 |
| Sampson County | 196 | 50% | 46.9% | 3.1% | 1994 |
| Wilson County | 195 | 48.2% | 50.8% | 1% | 1985 |
| Orange County (this page) | 189 | 38.1% | 54% | 7.9% | 1983 |
| Moore County | 178 | 48.9% | 49.4% | 1.7% | 1981 |
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 Orange 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 Orange County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (189 bridges here).
- Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
- Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
- Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
- Chase County, KS · 189 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.
Poor-condition bridges (15)
VALLEY FORGE RD
PoorOver: CATES CREEK
0.4 MI. W. JCT. NC86, Orange, NC
Built 2020 Load: 6.3 t ADT: 100
US70BUS NC86
PoorOver: CATES CREEK
0.01 MI. N. JCT. NC86, Orange, NC
Built 1940 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 7,300
SR1336
PoorOver: ENO RIVER
100 ft. E. JCT. SR1337, Orange, NC
Built 1958 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 260
SR1548
PoorOver: SOUTH FORK LITTLE RIVER
0.1 MI. E. JCT. SR1540, Orange, NC
Built 1954 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 710
SR1005
PoorOver: MORGAN CREEK
0.2 MI. E. JCT. SR1942, Orange, NC
Built 1939 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 8,300
NC751
PoorOver: SOUTHERN R.R.
0.2 MI. S. JCT. US70, Orange, NC
Built 1930 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 5,300
US70E
PoorOver: SR1239W
1.0 MI. E. JCT. I40/I85, Orange, NC
Built 1953 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 5,500
NC86
PoorOver: SOUTHERN RAILWAY
0.4 MI. S. JCT. I85, Orange, NC
Built 1954 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 11,000
US70
PoorOver: ENO RIVER
0.5 MI. E. JCT. SR1239, Orange, NC
Built 1922 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 11,000
I85S
PoorOver: SR1713
0.5 MI. S. JCT. US70, Orange, NC
Built 1958 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 32,750
NC86
PoorOver: NEW HOPE CREEK
0.1 MI. S. JCT. SR1203, Orange, NC
Built 1951 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 5,900
I85SN US70E
PoorOver: US70W.BUS
0.6 MI. N. JCT. SR1712, Orange, NC
Built 1958 Load: 45.3 t ADT: 31,000
SR1004
PoorOver: QUAKER CRK RESERVOI
0.7 MI. N. JCT. SR1362, Orange, NC
Built 1990 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 450
SR1519
PoorOver: NORTH FORK LITTLE RIVER
1.0 MI. S. JCT. SR1517, Orange, NC
Built 1960 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 140
NC86
PoorOver: OLD FIELD CREEK
0.3 MI. N. JCT. SR1730, Orange, NC
Built 1951 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 5,300
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.