Total bridges
216
Public highway bridges in Berkeley County
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.
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.
When Berkeley County's bridges were built
216 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 6
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s 4
1950–1959
4 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
52 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
47 bridges
- 1980s 19
1980–1989
19 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
25 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
33 bridges
- 2010s 14
2010–2019
14 bridges
- 2020s 3
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).
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.
| 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 bridges (216)
S-8-33
GoodOver: MARTINS CREEK
3.0 MI S SC 41 AT WANDO, Berkeley, SC
Built 1997 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 20,000
S-8-48/BETHERA RD
GoodOver: WHISKINBOO CREEK
9.5MI NE MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Built 2000 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 350
S-8-49
GoodOver: ECHAW CREEK #1
8MI SE JAMESTOWN, Berkeley, SC
Built 2003 Load: 49.6 t ADT: 325
S-8-88/MURRAY DR
GoodOver: TURKEY CREEK
IN HANAHAN, Berkeley, SC
Built 2005 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 13,300
S-133/STEED CR RD
GoodOver: YORK BOTTOM CREEK
1.0 MI SE HUGER, Berkeley, SC
Built 2006 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 600
S-08-126
GoodOver: GRAVE HILL SWAMP
2 MI NE OF BONNEAU, Berkeley, SC
Built 2006 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 2,100
S-8-49
GoodOver: ECHAW CREEK #2
7.9MI SE JAMESTOWN, Berkeley, SC
Built 2004 Load: 51.5 t ADT: 325
S-8-449
GoodOver: GANTS MILL BRANCH
9 MI SW MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Built 2004 Load: 51.5 t ADT: 275
S-08-126
GoodOver: FOX SWAMP
2 MI NE OF BONNEAU, Berkeley, SC
Built 2004 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 2,100
L-2728/TURTLPONDRD
GoodOver: SAWMILL BRANCH
SUMMERVILLE, Berkeley, SC
Built 2015 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 250
S-8-33
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
7.7 MI S OF SC 41, Berkeley, SC
Built 2000 Load: 56.4 t ADT: 36,500
NICHOLSON CREEK-Br
PoorOver: CREEK
NO DATA ENTERED, Berkeley, SC
Built 1966 Load: 8.1 t ADT: 50
US 52/US 17 ALT
PoorOver: COOPER RIVER
1 MI N OF MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Built 1944 Load: 15.6 t ADT: 27,600
CANE GULLY BRANCH-
PoorOver: BRANCH
NO DATA ENTERED, Berkeley, SC
Built 1978 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 50
S-8-35
PoorOver: REDIVERSION CANAL
14.8 MI NE MONCKS CORNER, Berkeley, SC
Built 1982 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 1,550
SC 41
PoorOver: NICHOLSON CREEK
14.3MI SE MONCKS CRN, Berkeley, SC
Built 1941 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 2,400
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.