Total bridges
139
Public highway bridges in Fairfield County
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.
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.
When Fairfield County's bridges were built
139 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 11
1920–1929
11 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 7
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
26 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
31 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
16 bridges
- 2000s 12
2000–2009
12 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (11)
S-20-20
PoorOver: HOGFORK BRANCH
9.8MI NE WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1961 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 100
S-20-258
PoorOver: THORNTREE CREEK
16MI SE WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1962 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 125
C-20-60
PoorOver: BR OF MORRIS CR
8.4 MI SW OF WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1960 Load: 0.3 t ADT: 125
SC 200
PoorOver: BEAVER DAM CREEK
6.5 MI N OF WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1928 Load: 4.9 t ADT: 1,700
S-20-214
PoorOver: BIG CREEK
13.5MI NW WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1957 Load: 8.4 t ADT: 125
S-20-54
PoorOver: MILLS CREEK
6MI SW WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1955 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 250
S-20-15
PoorOver: SAWNEYS CREEK
14.3MI SE WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1957 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 225
S-20-99
PoorOver: ROCKY CREEK
17MI NW WINNSBORO, Fairfield, SC
Built 1960 Load: 14.6 t ADT: 100
SC 215
PoorOver: MCCLURES CREEK
2.3 MI S OF CHESTER CO LN, Fairfield, SC
Built 1928 Load: 15.9 t ADT: 1,050
US 21
PoorOver: LITTLE WATEREE CREEK
10.1 MI N OF RIDGEWAY, Fairfield, SC
Built 1942 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 900
US 21
PoorOver: BIG WATEREE CREEK
10.6 MI N OF RIDGEWAY, Fairfield, SC
Built 1942 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 900
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.