County profile · official public datasets

Vance County, NC

75 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.3% rated Good, 56% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

75
Public bridges: 37.3%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Vance County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

64th
of 100 on Poor share: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 75
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.

Vance County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Vance County ranks #64 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Vance County, North Carolina contains 75 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.3% are rated “Good,” 56% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Vance County

Good condition

37.3%

28 of 75 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56%

42 of 75 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

5 of 75 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 75 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.3% (28)

Fair

56% (42)

Poor

6.7% (5)

Vance County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,000 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,200 crossings a day against 3,940 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 75 of 75 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.7% of Vance County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

38 of the 75 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 37.3% 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 52.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US1N.BYP over CSX RAILROAD, built 1955, carries 3,150 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 6,000 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1950s

23
1960s

10
1970s

6
1990s

9
2000s

8
2010s

14
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Vance County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 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 Vance County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Warren County	84	47.6%	47.6%	4.8%	1985
Northampton County	83	31.3%	65.1%	3.6%	1981
Jones County	82	51.2%	47.6%	1.2%	1996
Hyde County	75	44%	49.3%	6.7%	1998
Vance County (this page)	75	37.3%	56%	6.7%	1983
Clay County	63	44.4%	52.4%	3.2%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (75 bridges here).

Washington County, CO · 75 bridges
Bradford County, FL · 75 bridges
Toombs County, GA · 75 bridges
McLean County, KY · 75 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 75 Good 28 Fair 42 Poor 5

All bridges (75)

Sort:

Vance County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Vance County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,000 vehicle crossings a day

50.7% of Vance County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Vance 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 (75)

SR1308

SR1519

SR1518

NC39

SR1113

SR1100

SR1369

SR1115

SR1148

SR1126

SR1513

SR1312

SR1322

NC39

SR1519

SR1306

US1S

SR1319

SR1519

I-85

I-85

II85

US158

SR1533

SR1295

SR1369

US1S

US1N.BYP

SR1317

NC39

SR1303

I85S

SR1162

US1N.BYP

I85S

I85N

US1S.BYP

US1N.BYP

US158BUS

US158BUS

SR1326

SR1557

NC39

SR1295

SR1101

US1S.BYP

SR1350

SR1120

SR1104

SR1342

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