County profile · official public datasets

Richmond County, NC

154 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.1% rated Good, 41.6% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

154
Public bridges: 57.1%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Richmond County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 9%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 154
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Richmond County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Richmond County ranks #9 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Richmond County, North Carolina contains 154 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.1% are rated “Good,” 41.6% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

154

Public highway bridges in Richmond County

Good condition

57.1%

88 of 154 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.6%

64 of 154 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

2 of 154 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 154 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.1% (88)

Fair

41.6% (64)

Poor

1.3% (2)

Richmond County's Poor-condition bridges carry 200 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 100 crossings a day against 4,530 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 154 of 154 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.8% of Richmond County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 154 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 57.1% 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 75% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1971 over SOLOMONS CREEK, built 1963, carries 150 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 200 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1940s

6
1950s

11
1960s

30
1970s

6
1980s

6
1990s

19
2000s

43
2010s

28
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Richmond County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1988 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 Richmond County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Halifax County	158	36.7%	61.4%	1.9%	1984
Beaufort County	154	51.9%	40.9%	7.1%	1996
Richmond County (this page)	154	57.1%	41.6%	1.3%	1988
Montgomery County	151	51%	47.7%	1.3%	1986
Stokes County	150	38.7%	51.3%	10%	1988
Granville County	149	32.9%	61.1%	6%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (154 bridges here).

Choctaw County, AL · 154 bridges
Arkansas County, AR · 154 bridges
Kootenai County, ID · 154 bridges
Elk County, KS · 154 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 154 Good 88 Fair 64 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Richmond County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Richmond County's Poor-condition bridges carry 200 vehicle crossings a day

33.8% of Richmond County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Richmond 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

Fair-condition bridges (64)

SR1163

SR1319

SR1148

SR1607

SR1321

SR1005

SR1990

SR1648

SR1431

SR1159

US74BUS

US1

SR1155

SR1436

SR1005

SR1615

SR1005

SR1405

SR1475

SR1310

SR1109

SR1143

SR1124

US220

HOOD STREET

SR1489

US220

NC177

US74 BUS

SR1005

US1

US220BUS NC73

US1

US1

SR1424

SR1442

SR1124

SR1148

SR1104

NC73

SR1124

SR1442

SR1424

SR1441

NC109

NC109

US220S

US220

US220N

US74W

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