Total bridges
216
Public highway bridges in Berkeley County
County profile · official public datasets
216 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 63% Fair, 2.3% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Berkeley County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Berkeley County ranks #7 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Berkeley County, South Carolina contains 216 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 63% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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
216
Public highway bridges in Berkeley County
Good condition
34.7%
75 of 216 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63%
136 of 216 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.3%
5 of 216 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#7 of 46
Among South Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 216 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,330 crossings a day against 5,831 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 216 of 216 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
108 of the 216 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 34.7% 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.
US 52/US 17 ALT over COOPER RIVER, built 1944, carries 27,600 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 31,650 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
216 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1920–1929
5 bridges
1930–1939
6 bridges
1940–1949
8 bridges
1950–1959
4 bridges
1960–1969
52 bridges
1970–1979
47 bridges
1980–1989
19 bridges
1990–1999
25 bridges
2000–2009
33 bridges
2010–2019
14 bridges
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the South Carolina average (1977).
The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Berkeley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 45 South Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colleton County | 231 | 35.9% | 62.3% | 1.7% | 1971 |
| Lexington County | 229 | 48.5% | 48.9% | 2.6% | 1981 |
| Newberry County | 218 | 31.7% | 62.8% | 5.5% | 1974 |
| Berkeley County (this page) | 216 | 34.7% | 63% | 2.3% | 1979 |
| Oconee County | 215 | 32.6% | 53.5% | 14% | 1971 |
| Cherokee County | 199 | 45.2% | 43.7% | 11.1% | 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 Berkeley County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Berkeley County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside SC (216 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1979 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: MARSH
NEAR CHARLESTON, Berkeley, SC
Over: COOPER RIVER TRIB
5.5 MI NNE CHARLESTON, Berkeley, SC
Over: WASSAMASSAW SWAMP
22.0 MI SE HOLLY HILL, Berkeley, SC
Over: LAUREL CREEK
10.2MI SW MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: LAUREL CREEK SWAMP
10.2MI SW MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: REDIVERSION CANAL
16.3 MI-NE-MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: SANTEE RIVER
21MI NE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: UNNAMED STREAM
IN GOOSE CREEK, Berkeley, SC
Over: RR CSXT
4.6 MI N GOOSE CREEK, Berkeley, SC
Over: RR CSXT
IN TOWN OF MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: SAW MILL BRANCH
13.3 MI SW MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: MARSH
5.5 MI NE CHARLESTON, Berkeley, SC
Over: FOUR HOLE SWAMP
14.3 MI SE ST GEORGE, Berkeley, SC
Over: FOUR HOLE SWAMP
14.3 MI SE ST GEORGE, Berkeley, SC
Over: UNNAMED STREAM
IN WANDO, Berkeley, SC
Over: SANTEE RIVER
21 MI NE MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: DURHAM CREEK
9MI SE MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: RR CSXT
0.5MI S OF MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: KING SWAMP
5.8 MI SE HUGER, Berkeley, SC
Over: TIDAL CREEK
NEAR CHARLESTON, Berkeley, SC
Over: TIDAL CREEK
NEAR CHARLESTON, Berkeley, SC
Over: GOOSE CREEK
CITY OF GOOSE CREEK, Berkeley, SC
Over: CRAWL CREEK
17.4 MI N MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: SANTEE RIVER SWAMP
18.8MI NE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: SANTEE RIVER SWAMP
20.3MI NE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: TIMOTHY CREEK
12 MI NW OF SUMMERVILLE, Berkeley, SC
Over: TIMOTHY CREEK
13 MI NW OF SUMMERVILLE, Berkeley, SC
Over: WADBOO SWAMP
3.5MI E MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: CYPRESS SWAMP
14.8 MI SW MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: CYPRESS SWAMP
14.8MI SW MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: ANCRUM SWAMP
3 MI W GOOSE CREEK, Berkeley, SC
Over: WADBOO SWAMP
8 MI NE OF MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: MOLLY BRANCH
3MI S MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Over: RR CSXT
10MI NE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: WEDBOO SWAMP
15.2MI NE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Over: CANTER HILL SWAMP
8 MI SW MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.