County profile · official public datasets

Rowan County, NC

245 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.5% rated Good, 42.4% Fair, 2% Poor.

245
Public bridges: 55.5%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Rowan County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 2%
Poor-condition share: 245
public highway bridges: 1993
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.

Rowan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rowan County ranks #19 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Rowan County, North Carolina contains 245 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.5% are rated “Good,” 42.4% “Fair,” and 2% “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

245

Public highway bridges in Rowan County

Good condition

55.5%

136 of 245 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.4%

104 of 245 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5 of 245 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 245 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.5% (136)

Fair

42.4% (104)

Poor

2% (5)

Rowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,810 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,362 crossings a day against 5,989 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 245 of 245 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

15.9% of Rowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 245 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 55.5% 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 44.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1724 over SOUTHERN RAILROAD, built 1961, carries 3,000 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,810 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

8
1960s

19
1970s

13
1980s

45
1990s

45
2000s

37
2010s

62
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1993, 7 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Rowan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1993 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 11 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rowan County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ashe County	247	33.6%	41.7%	24.7%	1984
Henderson County	245	35.5%	55.5%	9%	1979
Rowan County (this page)	245	55.5%	42.4%	2%	1993
Alamance County	244	48.4%	46.7%	4.9%	1987
Madison County	244	33.2%	45.1%	21.7%	1975
Chatham County	241	42.7%	55.2%	2.1%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (245 bridges here).

Allegany County, MD · 245 bridges
Highland County, OH · 245 bridges
Pike County, OH · 245 bridges
Grimes County, TX · 245 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1993 here).

Salt Lake County, UT · avg 1993 · 659 bridges
Marshall County, MS · avg 1993 · 255 bridges
Daviess County, IN · avg 1993 · 221 bridges
Scott County, MN · avg 1993 · 129 bridges

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

All 245 Good 136 Fair 104 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (104)

Sort:

Rowan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,810 vehicle crossings a day

15.9% of Rowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rowan 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 (104)

NORTH ELLIS ST.

EAST BANK STREET

US52

SR1004

SR1769

SR1983

NC152

SR2529

SR2529

SR1915

SR1124

SR1912

SR2148

SR1211

ARLINGTON STREET

SR1004

US52

US70 EBL

US70 WBL

NC152

SR1957

US52

US601

NC150

SR1002

I85

SR2368

SR1981

SR2152

SR2200

SR1350

SR1526

SR1526

SR1505

I85

SR2337

SR1002

SR1002

SR2337

I85 & US601

NC49

SR1002

SR1915

SR1526

SR1703

US601

SR2335

SR1322

US601

SR1970

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