County profile · official public datasets

Wilson County, NC

195 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.2% rated Good, 50.8% Fair, 1% Poor.

195
Public bridges: 48.2%
Good condition: 1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wilson County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 6%
lowest Poor share in state: 1%
Poor-condition share: 195
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wilson County ranks #6 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1%). Wilson County, North Carolina contains 195 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.2% are rated “Good,” 50.8% “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

195

Public highway bridges in Wilson County

Good condition

48.2%

94 of 195 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.8%

99 of 195 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2 of 195 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 195 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.2% (94)

Fair

50.8% (99)

Poor

1% (2)

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,450 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% 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 3,225 crossings a day against 4,489 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 195 of 195 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.7% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

58 of the 195 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 48.2% 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 94.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC58 over BRANCH OF TOISNOT SWAMP, built 1957, carries 6,100 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,450 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

7
1940s

7
1950s

20
1960s

15
1970s

23
1980s

11
1990s

26
2000s

46
2010s

23
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Wilson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1986 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 Wilson 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	196	50%	46.9%	3.1%	1994
Wilson County (this page)	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 Wilson 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 Wilson County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (195 bridges here).

Otero County, CO · 195 bridges
Lucas County, IA · 195 bridges
LaSalle County, LA · 195 bridges
Sabine County, LA · 195 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 195 Good 94 Fair 99 Poor 2

All bridges (195)

Sort:

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,450 vehicle crossings a day

29.7% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 94.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wilson 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 (195)

NC222

SR1192

NC111

US301 SBL

NC111 NC222

SR1507

SR1526

SR1184

US264

US264A

SR1634

NC42

NC42

US264 EBL

SR1192

US301N

US301S

NC42 NC58

US264E BYP

I795S US264E

SR1622

NC58N

SR1424

I795 US264

US264A

SR1163

US264WBYP

I-795N US264W

SR1637

US264

NC42

NC58S

SR1332

I 95 SBL

SR1003

SR1301

SR1313

SR1653

SR1103

I795 RAMP

NC42

SR1332

SR1323

SR1400

SR1430

SR1645

SR1602

SR1147

NC42

SR1116

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