County profile · official public datasets

Newberry County, SC

218 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.7% rated Good, 62.8% Fair, 5.5% Poor.

218
Public bridges: 31.7%
Good condition: 5.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Newberry County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

26th
of 46 on Poor share: 5.5%
Poor-condition share: 218
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.

Newberry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Newberry County ranks #26 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.5%). Newberry County, South Carolina contains 218 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.7% are rated “Good,” 62.8% “Fair,” and 5.5% “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

218

Public highway bridges in Newberry County

Good condition

31.7%

69 of 218 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.8%

137 of 218 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.5%

12 of 218 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 218 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.7% (69)

Fair

62.8% (137)

Poor

5.5% (12)

Newberry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,300 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,358 crossings a day against 1,335 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 218 of 218 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.3% of Newberry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

127 of the 218 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 31.7% 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 78.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-26 WB over INDIAN CREEK, built 1960, carries 22,150 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 28,300 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

10
1940s

18
1950s

28
1960s

51
1970s

36
1980s

21
1990s

19
2000s

15
2010s

11
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.4% 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 Newberry County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Newberry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1977 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 Newberry County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Colleton County	231	35.9%	62.3%	1.7%	1971
Lexington County	229	48.5%	48.9%	2.6%	1981
Newberry County (this page)	218	31.7%	62.8%	5.5%	1974
Berkeley County	216	34.7%	63%	2.3%	1979
Oconee County	215	32.6%	53.5%	14%	1971
Cherokee County	199	45.2%	43.7%	11.1%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (218 bridges here).

Okaloosa County, FL · 218 bridges
Yellow Medicine County, MN · 218 bridges
Fillmore County, NE · 218 bridges
McNairy County, TN · 218 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 218 Good 69 Fair 137 Poor 12

Fair-condition bridges (137)

Sort:

Newberry County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Newberry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28,300 vehicle crossings a day

58.3% of Newberry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 78.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Newberry 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

Fair-condition bridges (137)

US 76

C-36-598

S-36-415

C-36-91

C-36-174

C-36-2526

C-36-514

S-36-244

C-36-483

C-36-373

C-36-458

S-36-65

S-36-481

C-36-509

C-36-430

C-36-491

S-36-244

S-36-500

S-36-56

S-36-900

S-36-81

SC 121

S-36-587

S-36-571

S-36-164

S-36-97

S-36-408

S-36-98

S-36-273

S-36-244

S-36-187

S-36-359

S-36-49

S-36-56

S-36-638

S-36-29

S-36-98

S-36-276

S-36-572

S-36-350

S-36-353

S-36-376

S-36-407

S-36-271

S-36-405

S-36-500

S-36-510

S-36-172

S-36-217

S-36-38

Related