County profile · official public datasets

Rutherford County, NC

298 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.3% rated Good, 47.3% Fair, 12.4% Poor.

298
Public bridges: 40.3%
Good condition: 12.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Rutherford County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

88th
of 100 on Poor share: 12.4%
Poor-condition share: 298
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Rutherford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rutherford County ranks #88 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.4%). Rutherford County, North Carolina contains 298 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.3% are rated “Good,” 47.3% “Fair,” and 12.4% “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

298

Public highway bridges in Rutherford County

Good condition

40.3%

120 of 298 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.3%

141 of 298 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.4%

37 of 298 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#88 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 298 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.3% (120)

Fair

47.3% (141)

Poor

12.4% (37)

Rutherford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,460 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 958 crossings a day against 1,621 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 298 of 298 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.4% of Rutherford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

180 of the 298 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 40.3% 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 24.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US74BUS over SECOND BROAD RIVER, built 1921, carries 8,700 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 37-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 35,460 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

7
1920s

5
1930s

7
1940s

4
1950s

47
1960s

89
1970s

39
1980s

20
1990s

21
2000s

20
2010s

31
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 89 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 12 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Rutherford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rutherford County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Johnston County	318	42.1%	53.5%	4.4%	1989
Durham County	314	35.7%	60.8%	3.5%	1984
Surry County	308	28.9%	62%	9.1%	1979
Rutherford County (this page)	298	40.3%	47.3%	12.4%	1974
Haywood County	286	29.7%	53.8%	16.4%	1975
Robeson County	285	52.6%	46.3%	1.1%	1990

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (298 bridges here).

Sarasota County, FL · 298 bridges
Seminole County, OK · 298 bridges
Richland County, WI · 298 bridges
St. Croix County, WI · 298 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 298 Good 120 Fair 141 Poor 37

Fair-condition bridges (141)

Sort:

Rutherford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rutherford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 35,460 vehicle crossings a day

60.4% of Rutherford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rutherford 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 (141)

SR1351

SR1314

SR1360

SR1567

SR1736

SR1726

SR1007

SR1314

SR2182

SR1751

SR1504

SR1312

SR1745

SR1138

SR1910

SR2152

SR1356

SR1104

SR1725

SR1773

SR2171

SR1163

SR1978

SR2106

SR1749

SR2109

SR2112

SR1001

SR2164

SR1766

SR1371

SR1921

SR1749

SR1005

SR1108

SR1595

SR1529

SR1328

US64

TRYON BAY CIRCLE

SR1558

SR1726

SR1144

SR2142

SR1733

US74B US221

US221

SR1735

SR1005

SR1514

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