Total bridges
174
Public highway bridges in Kershaw County
County profile · official public datasets
Kershaw County, SC
174 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.7% rated Good, 55.2% Fair, 5.2% Poor.
- 174
- Public bridges
- 39.7%
- Good condition
- 5.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Kershaw County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 50%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 5.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 174
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Kershaw County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kershaw County ranks #23 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Kershaw County, South Carolina contains 174 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.7% are rated “Good,” 55.2% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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
39.7%
69 of 174 rated 7-9
Fair condition
55.2%
96 of 174 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.2%
9 of 174 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#23 of 46
Among South Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 174 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 39.7% (69)
Fair 55.2% (96)
Poor 5.2% (9)
Kershaw County's Poor-condition bridges carry 84,750 vehicle crossings a day
That is 9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,417 crossings a day against 2,956 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 174 of 174 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
56.3% of Kershaw County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
98 of the 174 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 39.7% 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 24.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I-20 EB over WATEREE SWP OVERFLOW (1), built 1970, carries 21,100 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 84,750 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Kershaw County's bridges were built
174 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 10
1930–1939
10 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
35 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
34 bridges
- 1980s 3
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
18 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
22 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the South Carolina average (1977).
How Kershaw County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Kershaw County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster County | 181 | 29.3% | 58% | 12.7% | 1967 |
| Darlington County | 174 | 32.8% | 62.1% | 5.2% | 1974 |
| Kershaw County (this page) | 174 | 39.7% | 55.2% | 5.2% | 1978 |
| Clarendon County | 170 | 25.3% | 72.9% | 1.8% | 1976 |
| Sumter County | 166 | 44% | 45.2% | 10.8% | 1981 |
| Abbeville County | 163 | 41.1% | 55.8% | 3.1% | 1975 |
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 Kershaw 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 Kershaw County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside SC (174 bridges here).
- Hempstead County, AR · 174 bridges
- Eagle County, CO · 174 bridges
- Washington County, IN · 174 bridges
- Lac qui Parle County, MN · 174 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (69)
S-28-59
GoodOver: BEAVERDAM CREEK
7 MI W OF BETHUNE, Kershaw, SC
Built 2007 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 225
S-28-303
GoodOver: SAWNEYS CREEK #2
10 MI N OF ELGIN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2007 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 400
S-28-5
GoodOver: 25-MILE CREEK
TOWN OF LUGOFF, Kershaw, SC
Built 2000 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 4,600
S-28-140
GoodOver: GRANNIES QUARTER CR #2
7 MI S OF KERSHAW, Kershaw, SC
Built 2013 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 150
US 601
GoodOver: SPEARS CREEK
7 MI S OF LUGOFF, Kershaw, SC
Built 2000 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 3,600
S-28-385
GoodOver: TWENTYFIVE MILE CR OVF
4 MI W OF ELGIN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2012 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 400
S-28-700
GoodOver: HORSEPEN CREEK
2 MI NE OF ELGIN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2018 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 1,150
SC 97
GoodOver: WHITE OAK CREEK
12 MI NW OF CAMDEN, Kershaw, SC
Built 1982 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 1,800
S-28-385
GoodOver: TWENTY FIVE MILE CRK OVF
4 MI W OF ELGIN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2012 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 400
US 601 SB
GoodOver: RR CSXT
TOWN OF LUGOFF, Kershaw, SC
Built 2003 Load: 49.6 t ADT: 9,800
US 1
GoodOver: LYNCHES RIVER
2 MI NE OF BETHUNE, Kershaw, SC
Built 2004 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 3,400
S-28-120
GoodOver: SANDY BRANCH
2 MI W OF ELGIN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2015 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 300
S-28-87
GoodOver: SHIRLEY CREEK
8 MI SE OF KERSHAW, Kershaw, SC
Built 2019 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 250
I-20
GoodOver: KELLERS CREEK
11 MI SW OF CAMDEN, Kershaw, SC
Built 1966 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 53,500
S-28-697
GoodOver: TRIB TO WHITE OAK CR
12 MI NW OF CAMDEN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2019 Load: 53.8 t ADT: 75
S-28-31
GoodOver: BUFFALO CREEK
8 MI E OF KERSHAW, Kershaw, SC
Built 2020 Load: 55.7 t ADT: 800
L-28-701
GoodOver: SINGLETON CREEK
2.5 MI W OF LIBERTY HILL, Kershaw, SC
Built 2011 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 200
L-786/TREMBLEBR RD
GoodOver: SWIFT CREEK
8 MI SE OF CAMDEN, Kershaw, SC
Built 2019 Load: 75.2 t ADT: 200
S-28-21
GoodOver: 25 MILE CREEK
5MI W LUGOFF, Kershaw, SC
Built 2000 Load: 79.4 t ADT: 1,600
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.