County profile · official public datasets

Union County, NC

353 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.5% rated Good, 49.3% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

353
Public bridges: 46.5%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Union 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 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 353
public highway bridges: 1991
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #43 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Union County, North Carolina contains 353 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.5% are rated “Good,” 49.3% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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

353

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

46.5%

164 of 353 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.3%

174 of 353 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.2%

15 of 353 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#43 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 353 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.5% (164)

Fair

49.3% (174)

Poor

4.2% (15)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,900 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,060 crossings a day against 8,171 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 353 of 353 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

28.3% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

100 of the 353 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 46.5% 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 23.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1315 over UT TO E FORK TWELVE MI C, built 1968, carries 7,300 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 30,900 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

3
1940s

2
1950s

35
1960s

45
1970s

18
1980s

44
1990s

51
2000s

28
2010s

110
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 110 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1991, 5 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1991 against a peer-group mean of 1987 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 Union County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Union County (this page)	353	46.5%	49.3%	4.2%	1991
Wilkes County	349	32.1%	53.3%	14.6%	1983
Cumberland County	348	67.2%	31.9%	0.9%	1992
Davidson County	340	42.9%	52.9%	4.1%	1988
Iredell County	335	35.2%	54.6%	10.1%	1981
Johnston County	318	42.1%	53.5%	4.4%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (353 bridges here).

Whatcom County, WA · 354 bridges
Peoria County, IL · 352 bridges
Henrico County, VA · 352 bridges
Hendricks County, IN · 355 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1991 here).

Denver County, CO · avg 1991 · 458 bridges
Baldwin County, AL · avg 1991 · 381 bridges
Rock County, MN · avg 1991 · 265 bridges
Alcorn County, MS · avg 1991 · 213 bridges

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

All 353 Good 164 Fair 174 Poor 15

All bridges (353)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 30,900 vehicle crossings a day

28.3% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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 (353)

SR1747

NC200

SR1346

NC200

NC84

NC84

US601

NC218

SR1006

SR1003

STAFFORD STREET

SR1514

SR2115

SR1514

SR1004

SR1006

SR1731

NC218

NC84

NC207

US74

SUTHERLAND AVENUE

STREAMLET WAY

NC207

SR1642

US74 WBL

SR1316 SBL

US601 & NC207

SR1937

SR1507

US74

SR1520

SR1627

SR1245

US601

NC742

SR1758

SR2102

SR1346

NC200

US601

SR2125

SR1751

SR1008

SR1004

US74 BYP WBL

SR1162

SR1002

SR2102

US74W 601N NC200S

Related