County profile · official public datasets

Scotland County, NC

101 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.6% rated Good, 54.5% Fair, 1% Poor.

101
Public bridges: 44.6%
Good condition: 1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Scotland County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 5%
lowest Poor share in state: 1%
Poor-condition share: 101
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.

Scotland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Scotland County ranks #5 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1%). Scotland County, North Carolina contains 101 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.6% are rated “Good,” 54.5% “Fair,” and 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

101

Public highway bridges in Scotland County

Good condition

44.6%

45 of 101 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.5%

55 of 101 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1 of 101 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 101 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.6% (45)

Fair

54.5% (55)

Poor

1% (1)

Scotland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 100 crossings a day against 4,284 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 101 of 101 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.6% of Scotland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

44 of the 101 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 44.6% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1340 over GUM SWAMP CREEK, built 1952, carries 100 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

9
1960s

24
1970s

3
1980s

12
1990s

10
2000s

10
2010s

20
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Scotland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Scotland County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Scotland County (this page)	101	44.6%	54.5%	1%	1983
Lee County	98	57.1%	42.9%	0%	1989
Bertie County	95	50.5%	46.3%	3.2%	1993

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (101 bridges here).

Phillips County, AR · 101 bridges
Gilmer County, GA · 101 bridges
Beltrami County, MN · 101 bridges
Phillips County, MT · 101 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 101 Good 45 Fair 55 Poor 1

All bridges (101)

Sort:

Scotland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Scotland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100 vehicle crossings a day

43.6% of Scotland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Scotland 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 (101)

SR1609

US74BUS

SR1152

SR1614

SR1427

SR1369

NC79

SR1108

SR1601

US401

US74E

US74 W

SR1105

DOGWOOD MILE ST.

NC79

US74

US401

SR1323

US74 EBL

US15/US501

US74E

US74W

US501 BUSINESS

SR1323

US74/US501 WBL

NC144

US74E.

US15/401/501 SBL

US74 EBL

US74 WBL

US15 US401 US501N

NC79

SR1433

US501

US74E

US74E.BUS

17TH ABN DIV ROAD

SR1423

US15/401/501

US15/501

US74BUS

TUCKERS ROAD

SR1126

UNNAMED ROAD

UNNAMED ROAD

US74W

US74 EBL

SR1145

US74 WBL

US74W

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