Total bridges
277
Public highway bridges in Florence County
County profile · official public datasets
Florence County, SC
277 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.9% rated Good, 63.5% Fair, 2.5% Poor.
- 277
- Public bridges
- 33.9%
- Good condition
- 2.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Florence County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 22%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 277
- 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.
Florence County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Florence County ranks #10 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Florence County, South Carolina contains 277 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.9% are rated “Good,” 63.5% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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
33.9%
94 of 277 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.5%
176 of 277 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.5%
7 of 277 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#10 of 46
Among South Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 277 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 33.9% (94)
Fair 63.5% (176)
Poor 2.5% (7)
Florence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 64,675 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,239 crossings a day against 4,116 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 277 of 277 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
53.4% of Florence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
148 of the 277 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 33.9% 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 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 52 over JEFFERIES CREEK, built 1938, carries 23,200 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 64,675 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Florence County's bridges were built
277 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 14
1920–1929
14 bridges
- 1930s 13
1930–1939
13 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 20
1950–1959
20 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
74 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s 22
1980–1989
22 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
52 bridges
- 2000s 23
2000–2009
23 bridges
- 2010s 16
2010–2019
16 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the South Carolina average (1977).
How Florence County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Florence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1975 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickens County | 291 | 48.1% | 42.6% | 9.3% | 1979 |
| York County | 288 | 42.7% | 49.7% | 7.6% | 1984 |
| Florence County (this page) | 277 | 33.9% | 63.5% | 2.5% | 1976 |
| Orangeburg County | 273 | 17.9% | 76.6% | 5.5% | 1966 |
| Laurens County | 259 | 32.8% | 59.5% | 7.7% | 1974 |
| Colleton County | 231 | 35.9% | 62.3% | 1.7% | 1971 |
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 Florence 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 Florence County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside SC (277 bridges here).
- Navajo County, AZ · 277 bridges
- Delaware County, IN · 277 bridges
- Porter County, IN · 277 bridges
- Shelby County, OH · 277 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 (7)
US 52 EBL
PoorOver: LYNCHES RIVER
5.5 MI N OF COWARD, Florence, SC
Built 1974 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 7,350
US 76
PoorOver: MIDDLE SWAMP
6MI SW OF FLORENCE, Florence, SC
Built 1937 Load: 16.8 t ADT: 13,500
C-21-112
PoorOver: HIGH HILL CREEK
4.5 MI NW FLORENCE, Florence, SC
Built 1986 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 125
US 52 WB
PoorOver: LYNCHES RIVER SWAMP
4.0MI N OF COWARD, Florence, SC
Built 1950 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 7,350
US 52
PoorOver: JEFFERIES CREEK
CITY OF FLORENCE, Florence, SC
Built 1938 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 23,200
S-21-356
PoorOver: HIGH HILL CREEK
7MI SE DARLINGTON, Florence, SC
Built 1984 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 5,800
US 52 EBL
PoorOver: LYNCHES RIVER SWAMP
5.0MI N OF COWARD, Florence, SC
Built 1974 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 7,350
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.