County profile · official public datasets

Sampson County, NC

196 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50% rated Good, 46.9% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

196
Public bridges: 50%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sampson County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 196
public highway bridges: 1994
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.

Sampson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sampson County ranks #28 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Sampson County, North Carolina contains 196 public highway bridges. Roughly 50% are rated “Good,” 46.9% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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

196

Public highway bridges in Sampson County

Good condition

50%

98 of 196 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.9%

92 of 196 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

6 of 196 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#28 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 196 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50% (98)

Fair

46.9% (92)

Poor

3.1% (6)

Sampson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,890 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,648 crossings a day against 1,823 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 196 of 196 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24% of Sampson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 196 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 50% 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 67.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US421 over GREAT COHARIE SWAMP, built 1920, carries 6,700 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,890 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1940s

1
1950s

15
1960s

18
1970s

16
1980s

23
1990s

19
2000s

27
2010s

52
2020s

21

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1994, 8 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Sampson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1994 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sampson County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Duplin County	208	33.2%	59.1%	7.7%	1988
Caldwell County	201	35.8%	55.7%	8.5%	1983
Watauga County	200	43.5%	47%	9.5%	1984
Sampson County (this page)	196	50%	46.9%	3.1%	1994
Wilson County	195	48.2%	50.8%	1%	1985
Orange County	189	38.1%	54%	7.9%	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 Sampson 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 Sampson County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (196 bridges here).

Page County, IA · 196 bridges
Wilkin County, MN · 196 bridges
Mifflin County, PA · 196 bridges
Cherokee County, TX · 196 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1994 here).

Denton County, TX · avg 1994 · 991 bridges
St. Charles County, MO · avg 1994 · 417 bridges
Rock County, WI · avg 1994 · 304 bridges
Pasco County, FL · avg 1994 · 151 bridges

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

All 196 Good 98 Fair 92 Poor 6

All bridges (196)

Sort:

Sampson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sampson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,890 vehicle crossings a day

24% of Sampson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 67.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sampson 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 (196)

NC24W

NC24E

NC24W

SR1233

SR1240

SR1002

NC24E

SR1246

SR1256

SR1233

SR1430

SR1445

SR1002

SR1706

SR1475

SR1233

NC24W

NC24W

SR1214

SR1446

SR1608

SR1924

NC403

SR1839

NC41

SR1949

US421N

SR1945

US421S

SR1746

NC24E

SR1145

SR1703

SR1904

SR1329

SR1934

SR1933

NC403

SR1924

SR1338

SR1817

SR1721

SR1309

SR1746

US421

SR1323

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