County profile · official public datasets

Berkeley County, SC

216 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 63% Fair, 2.3% Poor.

216
Public bridges: 34.7%
Good condition: 2.3%
Poor condition

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.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.3%
Poor-condition share: 216
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Berkeley County Bridge Snapshot

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

Condition distribution

Share of 216 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.7% (75)

Fair

63% (136)

Poor

2.3% (5)

Berkeley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 31,650 vehicle crossings a day

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.

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

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.

One structure carries 87.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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.

1920s

5
1930s

6
1940s

8
1950s

4
1960s

52
1970s

47
1980s

19
1990s

25
2000s

33
2010s

14
2020s

3

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).

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

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Berkeley County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Berkeley County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (216 bridges here).

Coffee County, AL · 216 bridges
Miller County, AR · 216 bridges
Ascension County, LA · 216 bridges
Clinton County, MI · 216 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 216 Good 75 Fair 136 Poor 5

All bridges (216)

Sort:

Berkeley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Berkeley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 31,650 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 87.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Berkeley 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 (216)

S-8-598/UNITED DR

S-8-599

S-8-1258

S-8-413

S-8-134/WREN RD

S-554/DENNIS BLVD

S-902/CANAL DR

SC 6/SC 45

S-8-204

S-97/CANE GULLY RD

S-8-787

S-8-787

S-8-413

S-8-100

S-8-100

L-698/WHITWORTH ST

S-8-9

S-16/JEDBURG RD

S-8-598/UNITED DR

S-8-324

S-97/CANE GULLY RD

S-8-361

S-8-275

S-8-478/BIRCH AVE

S-8-605/WALTER RD

S-46/OLD DIARY RD

WAMBAW CREEK-Bridg

SC 27

S-8-447

S-8-447

S-8-447

S-8-45

S-8-598/UNITED DR

S-186/IMPERIAL DR

S-8-447

S-8-718

S-8-598/UNITED DR

S-8-598/UNITED DR

S-8-16/JEDBURG RD

SC 41

BR. OF FOX GULLEY

NICHOLSON CREEK-Br

NICHOLSON CREEK-Br

HARLESTON CREEK-Br

HARLESTON DAM CREE

S-8-16/JEDBURG RD

NICHOLSON CREEK-Br

SC 45

I-526 EB

I-526 WB

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