County profile · official public datasets

Cherokee County, SC

199 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.2% rated Good, 43.7% Fair, 11.1% Poor.

199
Public bridges: 45.2%
Good condition: 11.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cherokee County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

41st
of 46 on Poor share: 11.1%
Poor-condition share: 199
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.

Cherokee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cherokee County ranks #41 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Cherokee County, South Carolina contains 199 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.2% are rated “Good,” 43.7% “Fair,” and 11.1% “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

199

Public highway bridges in Cherokee County

Good condition

45.2%

90 of 199 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.7%

87 of 199 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.1%

22 of 199 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 199 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.2% (90)

Fair

43.7% (87)

Poor

11.1% (22)

Cherokee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 32,850 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,493 crossings a day against 5,004 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 199 of 199 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.2% of Cherokee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 199 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 45.2% 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 25.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 29 over CHEROKEE CREEK, built 1931, carries 8,500 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 32,850 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

8
1940s

6
1950s

23
1960s

18
1970s

26
1980s

22
1990s

27
2000s

35
2010s

22
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% 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, 6 years newer than the South Carolina average of 1977.

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Cherokee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cherokee County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Chesterfield County	199	40.2%	54.8%	5%	1974
Cherokee County (this page)	199	45.2%	43.7%	11.1%	1983
Aiken County	198	36.9%	53.5%	9.6%	1977
Dorchester County	198	28.8%	69.2%	2%	1972
Williamsburg County	195	38.5%	54.9%	6.7%	1977
Chester County	190	40.5%	50%	9.5%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (199 bridges here).

Montgomery County, AR · 199 bridges
Warren County, IL · 199 bridges
Dallas County, IA · 199 bridges
Leake County, MS · 199 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (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 199 Good 90 Fair 87 Poor 22

Fair-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Cherokee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cherokee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 32,850 vehicle crossings a day

38.2% of Cherokee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cherokee 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

Fair-condition bridges (87)

S-11-293

S-11-213

S-11-79

S-11-66

S-11-68

S-11-577

SC 198

S-11-499

SC 18

US 29

SC 150

SC 150

S-11-165

SC 18

S-11-34

US 29

SC 97

SC 5

S-11-52

S-11-94

S-11-82

SC 150

S-11-60

S-11-31

SC 329

C-11-677

S-11-29

S-11-69

SC 18

SC 150

S-11-38

SC 105

US 221

SC 105

SC 329

C-11-1032

SC 150

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