County profile · official public datasets

Carolina County, PR

73 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.8% rated Good, 60.3% Fair, 11% Poor.

73
Public bridges: 28.8%
Good condition: 11%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Carolina 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 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 11%
Poor-condition share: 73
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.

Carolina County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carolina County ranks #23 of 74 Puerto Rico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11%). Carolina County, Puerto Rico contains 73 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.8% are rated “Good,” 60.3% “Fair,” and 11% “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 Carolina County

Good condition

28.8%

21 of 73 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.3%

44 of 73 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11%

8 of 73 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 74

Among Puerto Rico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 73 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.8% (21)

Fair

60.3% (44)

Poor

11% (8)

Carolina County's Poor-condition bridges carry 241,500 vehicle crossings a day

That is 13.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 30,188 crossings a day against 26,241 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 73 of 73 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.1% of Carolina County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

30 of the 73 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 28.8% 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 41.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

PR 26 WESTBOUND over SUAREZ CHANNEL & PR, built 1965, carries 100,800 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 241,500 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

1
1950s

9
1960s

17
1970s

7
1980s

4
1990s

13
2000s

21
2010s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 9 years newer than the Puerto Rico average of 1974.

How Carolina County compares with Puerto Rico's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Puerto Rico counties nearest Carolina County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 9 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 73 Puerto Rico counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Carolina County and the 5 Puerto Rico counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cayey County	81	6.2%	82.7%	11.1%	1967
Bayamón County	78	14.1%	75.6%	10.3%	1977
Carolina County (this page)	73	28.8%	60.3%	11%	1983
Humacao County	69	26.1%	60.9%	13%	1985
Guaynabo County	63	28.6%	61.9%	9.5%	1981
Utuado County	57	12.3%	66.7%	21.1%	1961

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside PR (73 bridges here).

Stone County, AR · 73 bridges
Levy County, FL · 73 bridges
Putnam County, FL · 73 bridges
Dade County, GA · 73 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside PR (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 73 Good 21 Fair 44 Poor 8

All bridges (73)

Sort:

Carolina County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carolina County's Poor-condition bridges carry 241,500 vehicle crossings a day

41.1% of Carolina County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carolina County compares with Puerto Rico'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 (73)

PR-66

PR 853

Off PR 859 At 1.45

MONSERRATE AVENUE

PR 859

RAMP PR 2 AND PR 3

PR 3

PR 66

PR-66 KM 2.40

PR 66

PR-66 KM. 4.90

PR 66

PR-858

PR 66

PR 8

PR 190

CAMPO RICO AVENUE

ITURREGUI AVENUE

MONSERRATE AVENUE

PR 26 WESTBOUND

LUNA STREET

ACUARIO STREET

OFF PR 190 KM 0

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