County profile · official public datasets

Abbeville County, SC

163 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.1% rated Good, 55.8% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

163
Public bridges: 41.1%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Abbeville County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 163
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Abbeville County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Abbeville County ranks #12 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Abbeville County, South Carolina contains 163 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.1% are rated “Good,” 55.8% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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

163

Public highway bridges in Abbeville County

Good condition

41.1%

67 of 163 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.8%

91 of 163 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

5 of 163 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 163 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.1% (67)

Fair

55.8% (91)

Poor

3.1% (5)

Abbeville County's Poor-condition bridges carry 875 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 175 crossings a day against 1,260 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 163 of 163 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54% of Abbeville County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 163 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 41.1% 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 37.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S-1-33 over LONG CANE CREEK, built 1961, carries 325 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 875 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

10
1940s

15
1950s

14
1960s

33
1970s

21
1980s

22
1990s

14
2000s

16
2010s

8
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the South Carolina average (1977).

How Abbeville County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Abbeville County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 45 South Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Abbeville County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lancaster County	181	29.3%	58%	12.7%	1967
Darlington County	174	32.8%	62.1%	5.2%	1974
Kershaw County	174	39.7%	55.2%	5.2%	1978
Clarendon County	170	25.3%	72.9%	1.8%	1976
Sumter County	166	44%	45.2%	10.8%	1981
Abbeville County (this page)	163	41.1%	55.8%	3.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (163 bridges here).

Mercer County, IL · 163 bridges
Jennings County, IN · 163 bridges
Wayne County, IA · 163 bridges
Jackson County, LA · 163 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 163 Good 67 Fair 91 Poor 5

All bridges (163)

Sort:

Abbeville County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Abbeville County's Poor-condition bridges carry 875 vehicle crossings a day

54% of Abbeville County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Abbeville County compares with South 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 (163)

SC 72 WBL

S-1-72

SC 28

S-1-167

SC 203

S-1-344

S-1-212

SC 72

SC 201

S-1-181

S-1-185

SC 823

C-1-124

S-1-32

S-1-36

S-1-195

S-1-32

S-1-111

S-1-228

S-1-128

SC 184

SC 20

S-1-1

S-1-70

S-1-1111

SC 203

S-1-120

S-1-147

S-1-184

SC 20

S-1-75

S-1-284

SC 184

SC 28

S-1-37

S-1-65

S-1-64

S-1-44

S-1-96

SC 72 EBL

SC 72 WBL

SC 201

S-1-133

SC 71

S-1-113

SC 28

S-1-125

S-1-218

S-1-133

SC 72 EBL

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