County profile · official public datasets

Horry County, SC

479 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.1% rated Good, 46.1% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

479
Public bridges: 50.1%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 479
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Horry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Horry County ranks #13 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Horry County, South Carolina contains 479 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.1% are rated “Good,” 46.1% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

479

Public highway bridges in Horry County

Good condition

50.1%

240 of 479 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.1%

221 of 479 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

18 of 479 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 479 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.1% (240)

Fair

46.1% (221)

Poor

3.8% (18)

Horry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 223,925 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,440 crossings a day against 9,182 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 479 of 479 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.3% of Horry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

150 of the 479 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 50.1% 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 24.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 501 BYP over U.S.701, built 1958, carries 54,000 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 223,925 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

20
1940s

19
1950s

21
1960s

58
1970s

64
1980s

37
1990s

57
2000s

139
2010s

52
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 139 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 9 years newer than the South Carolina average of 1977.

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Horry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Horry County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Spartanburg County	638	51.7%	38.1%	10.2%	1979
Greenville County	635	56.7%	35.4%	7.9%	1981
Horry County (this page)	479	50.1%	46.1%	3.8%	1986
Anderson County	463	29.6%	65.7%	4.8%	1971
Richland County	361	50.1%	46%	3.9%	1979
Charleston County	336	37.8%	59.8%	2.4%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (479 bridges here).

Lauderdale County, MS · 481 bridges
Tangipahoa County, LA · 477 bridges
Kiowa County, OK · 477 bridges
Tuscaloosa County, AL · 482 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 479 Good 240 Fair 221 Poor 18

All bridges (479)

Sort:

Horry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Horry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 223,925 vehicle crossings a day

31.3% of Horry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Horry 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 (479)

SC 9

C-26-2892

US 701

C-26-1645

C-26-2545

C-26-1368

C-26-638 LONG BAY

L-746

L-2201

SC 544

SC 544

S-26-78

C-26-7471

SC 22 WB

S-26-669

C-26-1895

S-26-24

S-26-106

S-26-99

S-26-62

S-26-97

S-26-97

S-26-97

S-26-97

SC 22 EB

S-26-1244

C-26-2909

US 701

S-26-926

S-26-1338

C-26-1372

SC 22 WBL

SC 22 EBL

SC 22 EB

SC 22 WB

SC 90

S-26-19

S-26-19

S-26-130

S-26-19

S-26-97

US 501 SB

S-26-23

S-26-105

S-26-1315

C-26-1046

S-26-218

SC 22 EB

SC 22 WB

C-26-1269

Related