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.

Total bridges

189

Public highway bridges in Orange County

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.

1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

8
1950s

40
1960s

15
1970s

8
1980s

24
1990s

33
2000s

20
2010s

32
2020s

5

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Orange County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 189 Good 72 Fair 102 Poor 15

All bridges (189)

Sort:

Orange County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Orange County's Poor-condition bridges carry 125,010 vehicle crossings a day

37% of Orange County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Orange 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

All bridges (189)

I85N

NC86

I40 WBL

I40E

I40 EBL

I40E.RAMP

SR1942

I85N

SR1718

SR1734

US70BUS

SR1919

US15/501N

I85N

I85S

I85S US70W

SR1115

SR1709

PINEHURST DRIVE

I40W.

I85S NC86

SR1517

I85N NC86

I40

SR1001

US15 US501

US15 US501

NC54E

SR1332

SR1115

NC54W

US15/501

US15/US501

SR1723

SR1939

SR1734

SR1006

SR1134

SR1718

SR1150

SR1524

SR1515

I85

SR1312

SR1343

SR1556

SR1338

NC86

SR1001

SR1712

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