County profile · official public datasets

Wake County, NC

760 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.8% rated Good, 40.4% Fair, 5.8% Poor.

760
Public bridges: 53.8%
Good condition: 5.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

59th
of 100 on Poor share: 5.8%
Poor-condition share: 760
public highway bridges: 1992
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.

Wake County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wake County ranks #59 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.8%). Wake County, North Carolina contains 760 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.8% are rated “Good,” 40.4% “Fair,” and 5.8% “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

760

Public highway bridges in Wake County

Good condition

53.8%

409 of 760 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.4%

307 of 760 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.8%

44 of 760 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 760 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.8% (409)

Fair

40.4% (307)

Poor

5.8% (44)

Wake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 466,199 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,595 crossings a day against 16,028 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 760 of 760 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.3% of Wake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

162 of the 760 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 53.8% 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 9.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US1NBL over SEABOARD RR, built 1941, carries 45,500 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 466,199 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

5
1940s

5
1950s

34
1960s

76
1970s

85
1980s

99
1990s

105
2000s

171
2010s

123
2020s

53

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 171 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 6 years newer than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Wake County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wake County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wake County (this page)	760	53.8%	40.4%	5.8%	1992
Mecklenburg County	746	46.4%	51.1%	2.5%	1989
Guilford County	736	51.8%	42.9%	5.3%	1990
Buncombe County	555	34.6%	58.4%	7%	1978
Forsyth County	454	41.2%	49.8%	9%	1985
Randolph County	401	45.6%	52.9%	1.5%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (760 bridges here).

Fairfax County, VA · 751 bridges
Westchester County, NY · 774 bridges
Fulton County, GA · 775 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · 740 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1992 here).

Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
Benton County, AR · avg 1992 · 410 bridges
Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges
Cameron County, TX · avg 1992 · 355 bridges

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

All 760 Good 409 Fair 307 Poor 44

All bridges (760)

Sort:

Wake County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 466,199 vehicle crossings a day

21.3% of Wake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wake 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 (760)

NC50

KENNICOT AVE

US401 SBL

I40W

SR1644

SR1301

SR1386

SR1822

SR1009W

I-540RAMP

SR2517

BEAVER CRK COMMONS

I-440

SR1301

SR1645

I87S US264W

SR1163

SR3592

SR2703

SR3009

SR2501

WINTHROP DR

JUDD PARKWAY

SR2329

SR1315

SR3009

I87S US64W US264W

SR1923

NC54

SR1154

HERITAGE PINES DR.

US70

SR1119

SR2042

SR2215

SR3100

CARRINGTON MILL BD

SR1844

SR1613

NC98

SR1911

SR2049

SR1640

SR1187

SR2328

CARROUSEL LANE

SR3977

MACKENAN DRIVE

FOREST PARKWAY

I540

Related