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.

Total bridges

277

Public highway bridges in Florence County

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.

1920s

14
1930s

13
1940s

1
1950s

20
1960s

74
1970s

37
1980s

22
1990s

52
2000s

23
2010s

16
2020s

5

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Florence County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 277 Good 94 Fair 176 Poor 7

All bridges (277)

Sort:

Florence County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Florence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 64,675 vehicle crossings a day

53.4% of Florence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Florence 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 (277)

US 378

S-21-551

S-21-35

S-21-58

S-21-575

S-21-112

S-21-730

S-21-730

S-21-72

S-21-72

S-21-58

S-21-705

US 378

S-21-577

S-21-112

SC 51

S-21-58

SC 327

S-21-58

S-21-58

S-21-164

S-21-596

S-21-12 CON

S-21-147

S-21-721

US 301

S-21-111

US 76

S-21-107

US 378

S-21-726

S-21-225

US 76

SC 51

SC 51

S-21-514

S-21-49

US 378

S-21-925

S-21-554

S-21-610

S-21-610

S-21-721

S-21-13

S-21-773

S-21-105

SC 51

US 76 WB

S-21-560

US 301

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