Total bridges
259
Public highway bridges in Laurens County
County profile · official public datasets
Laurens County, SC
259 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.8% rated Good, 59.5% Fair, 7.7% Poor.
- 259
- Public bridges
- 32.8%
- Good condition
- 7.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Laurens County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 33rd
- of 46 on Poor share
- 7.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 259
- public highway bridges
- 1974
- 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.
Laurens County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Laurens County ranks #33 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Laurens County, South Carolina contains 259 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.8% are rated “Good,” 59.5% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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
32.8%
85 of 259 rated 7-9
Fair condition
59.5%
154 of 259 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.7%
20 of 259 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#33 of 46
Among South Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 259 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 32.8% (85)
Fair 59.5% (154)
Poor 7.7% (20)
Laurens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,450 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,073 crossings a day against 1,973 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 259 of 259 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
55.6% of Laurens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
144 of the 259 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 32.8% 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 53.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
I-385 NB over BEARDS CREEK, built 1958, carries 11,400 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 21,450 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Laurens County's bridges were built
259 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 8
1930–1939
8 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
19 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
45 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
46 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
30 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
29 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
39 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
22 bridges
- 2010s 12
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the South Carolina average (1977).
How Laurens County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Laurens County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1976 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| York County | 288 | 42.7% | 49.7% | 7.6% | 1984 |
| Florence County | 277 | 33.9% | 63.5% | 2.5% | 1976 |
| Orangeburg County | 273 | 17.9% | 76.6% | 5.5% | 1966 |
| Laurens County (this page) | 259 | 32.8% | 59.5% | 7.7% | 1974 |
| Colleton County | 231 | 35.9% | 62.3% | 1.7% | 1971 |
| Lexington County | 229 | 48.5% | 48.9% | 2.6% | 1981 |
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 Laurens 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 Laurens County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside SC (259 bridges here).
- Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
- Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
- Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges
- Hampshire County, MA · 259 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1974 here).
- Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
- Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
- Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (259)
S-30-344
PoorOver: BANKS CREEK
15.5 MI SW CLINTON, Laurens, SC
Built 1955 Load: 17.8 t ADT: 1,100
S-30-19
PoorOver: CANE CREEK
11.6MI S LAURENS, Laurens, SC
Built 1957 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 1,000
S-30-95
PoorOver: SOUTH DURBIN CREEK
4.9 MI NW GRAY COURT, Laurens, SC
Built 1960 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 225
S-30-415
PoorOver: BEAVER DAM CREEK
4.2 MI NE GRAY COURT, Laurens, SC
Built 1964 Load: 18.5 t ADT: 150
S-30-43
PoorOver: BR TO LITTLE RIVER
2.8 MI SE LAURENS, Laurens, SC
Built 1984 Load: 18.5 t ADT: 950
S-30-107
PoorOver: REEDY CREEK
4.2 MI NW GRAY COURT, Laurens, SC
Built 1956 Load: 18.8 t ADT: 125
S-30-91
PoorOver: LAKE GREENWOOD BAY
19.3 MI SE LAURENS, Laurens, SC
Built 1958 Load: 18.8 t ADT: 125
SC 560
PoorOver: BUSH RIVER
11.4 MI N W OF NEWBERRY, Laurens, SC
Built 1947 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 650
I-385 NB
PoorOver: BEARDS CREEK
8.2 MI NE OF LAURENS, Laurens, SC
Built 1958 Load: 26.6 t ADT: 11,400
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.