County profile · official public datasets

Fairfield County, SC

139 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.7% rated Good, 55.4% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

139
Public bridges: 36.7%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

35th
of 46 on Poor share: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 139
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Fairfield County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fairfield County ranks #35 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Fairfield County, South Carolina contains 139 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.7% are rated “Good,” 55.4% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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

139

Public highway bridges in Fairfield County

Good condition

36.7%

51 of 139 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.4%

77 of 139 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

11 of 139 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#35 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 139 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.7% (51)

Fair

55.4% (77)

Poor

7.9% (11)

Fairfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,600 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 509 crossings a day against 3,111 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 139 of 139 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.4% of Fairfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 139 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 36.7% 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 30.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SC 200 over BEAVER DAM CREEK, built 1928, carries 1,700 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,600 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

11
1930s

2
1940s

6
1950s

7
1960s

26
1970s

31
1980s

17
1990s

16
2000s

12
2010s

7
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the South Carolina average (1977).

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Fairfield County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1972 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 Fairfield County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Greenwood County	144	25%	70.8%	4.2%	1971
Fairfield County (this page)	139	36.7%	55.4%	7.9%	1976
Union County	131	35.9%	49.6%	14.5%	1975
Jasper County	129	24.8%	75.2%	0%	1970
Dillon County	128	25%	70.3%	4.7%	1972
Saluda County	125	40.8%	52.8%	6.4%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (139 bridges here).

Bulloch County, GA · 139 bridges
St. Helena County, LA · 139 bridges
Garrett County, MD · 139 bridges
Midland County, MI · 139 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 139 Good 51 Fair 77 Poor 11

All bridges (139)

Sort:

Fairfield County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fairfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,600 vehicle crossings a day

42.4% of Fairfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fairfield 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 (139)

C-20-664

C-20-667

C-20-221

ROCKY BRANCH-Bridg

ROCKY CREEK-Bridge

C-20-21

S-20-227

S-20-151

S-20-54

S-20-302

S-20-90

S-20-408

S-20-21

S-20-303

S-20-64

S-20-294

S-20-302

S-20-294

S-20-54

S-20-317

S-20-303

S-20-650

S-20-247

S-20-48

S-20-420

S-20-304

S-20-21

S-20-419

S-20-41

S-20-33

US 321

S-20-97

C-20-667

S-20-62

US 21

S-20-30

US 21

S-20-63

S-20-60

SC 215

S-20-101

S-20-30

S-20-82

L-204

L-204

S-20-85

SC 34

SC 213

S-20-28

SC 200

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