County profile · official public datasets

Pender County, NC

112 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.9% rated Good, 63.4% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

112
Public bridges: 33.9%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pender County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 25%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 112
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.

Pender County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pender County ranks #25 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Pender County, North Carolina contains 112 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.9% are rated “Good,” 63.4% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

112

Public highway bridges in Pender County

Good condition

33.9%

38 of 112 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.4%

71 of 112 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

3 of 112 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 112 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.9% (38)

Fair

63.4% (71)

Poor

2.7% (3)

Pender County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,580 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,193 crossings a day against 2,188 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 112 of 112 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.9% of Pender County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 112 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 33.9% 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 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC53 over ANGOLA CREEK, built 1947, carries 5,200 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,580 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1940s

4
1950s

4
1960s

18
1970s

4
1980s

40
1990s

20
2000s

7
2010s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Pender County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1986 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 Pender County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Franklin County	118	46.6%	47.5%	5.9%	1990
Alleghany County	117	47%	41.9%	11.1%	1982
Pender County (this page)	112	33.9%	63.4%	2.7%	1983
Avery County	108	25.9%	64.8%	9.3%	1983
Alexander County	107	52.3%	43%	4.7%	1990
Person County	106	37.7%	60.4%	1.9%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (112 bridges here).

Columbia County, FL · 112 bridges
Sumter County, FL · 112 bridges
Houston County, GA · 112 bridges
Tift County, GA · 112 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 112 Good 38 Fair 71 Poor 3

All bridges (112)

Sort:

Pender County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pender County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,580 vehicle crossings a day

25.9% of Pender County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pender 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 (112)

SR1336

SR1580

SR1340

SR1523

SR1207

NC210

US117

SR1104

NC53

NC53

NC210

SR1318

NC133

SR1407

NC11

NC11 &NC53

SR1001

NC210

SR1001

US117

US117

NC11

SR1121

NC11&53

NC210

SR1207

SR1309

SR1411

NC53

NC210

NC210

NC210

SR1561

NC210

NC50

US117

I40W

I40E

I40

SR1307

SR1304

NC210

SR1529

SR1125

SR1509

SR1409

SR1411

SR1217

SR1411

SR1307

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