County profile · official public datasets

Oconee County, SC

215 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.6% rated Good, 53.5% Fair, 14% Poor.

215
Public bridges
32.6%
Good condition
14%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Oconee County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

45th
of 46 on Poor share
14%
Poor-condition share
215
public highway bridges
1971
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.

Oconee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Oconee County ranks #45 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14%). Oconee County, South Carolina contains 215 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.6% are rated “Good,” 53.5% “Fair,” and 14% “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

215

Public highway bridges in Oconee County

Good condition

32.6%

70 of 215 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.5%

115 of 215 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14%

30 of 215 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 215 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
32.6% (70)
Fair
53.5% (115)
Poor
14% (30)

Oconee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 37,225 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,241 crossings a day against 2,622 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 215 of 215 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

66% of Oconee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

142 of the 215 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 32.6% 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 18.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SC 188 over LAKE KEOWEE (CANE CK), built 1969, carries 6,800 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 37,225 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Oconee County's bridges were built

215 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the South Carolina average of 1977.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Oconee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Oconee County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Colleton County 231 1.7%
Lexington County 229 2.6%
Newberry County 218 5.5%
Berkeley County 216 2.3%
Oconee County (this page) 215 14%
Cherokee County 199 11.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (215 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1971 here).

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

All 215 Good 70 Fair 115 Poor 30

Good-condition bridges (70)

SC 11

Good

Over: TRIB N FORK LTTL RIVER

10.0 MI NE WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1969 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 4,000

S-37-95

Good

Over: TAMASSEE CREEK

7 MI N WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 150

S-37-95

Good

Over: TRIB TO LITTLE RIVER

8 MI N WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 150

SC 11

Good

Over: S.C. 183

3.5 MI NE OF WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1969 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 7,500

S-37-129

Good

Over: W FORK LITTLE RIVER

8 MI NE WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 600

SC 28

Good

Over: CHAUGA CREEK

6.0 MI NW OF WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1939 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 2,100

US 76

Good

Over: CHATTOOGA RIV-GA. LINE

GA/SC STATE LINE, Oconee, SC

Built 2007 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 1,650

S-37-531

Good

Over: PERKINS CREEK

1.5 MI W SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 2016 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 2,100

S-37-146

Good

Over: MULLERS CREEK

0.7 MI SW WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 275

S-37-66

Good

Over: BEAVER DAM CREEK

10.2 MI S SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 2002 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 500

C-37-1199

Good

Over: CHAUGA RIVER

7.0MI NW OF WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 2015 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 200

C-37-726

Good

Over: TOXAWAY CREEK

5.2MI W OF WESTMINISTER, Oconee, SC

Built 2010 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 200

US 76 WBL

Good

Over: CONEROSS CREEK

5.0 MI W OF SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 1981 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 7,250

S-37-44

Good

Over: FALL CREEK

12.5 MI NE WALHALLA, Oconee, SC

Built 1986 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 225

S-37-20

Good

Over: CHOESTOEA CREEK

2.5 MI S. WESTMINSTER, Oconee, SC

Built 1989 Load: 49.6 t ADT: 475

S-37-135

Good

Over: TRIB TO RICHLAND CREEK

4 MI NW SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 2015 Load: 50.9 t ADT: 3,400

S-37-13

Good

Over: CONEROSS CREEK

4 MI E WESTMINSTER, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 1,650

S-37-90

Good

Over: LONGENOSE CREEK

9.0 MI W OF WESTMINSTER, Oconee, SC

Built 1996 Load: 90.4 t ADT: 275

S-402

Good

Over: TRIB TO RICHLAND CREEK

2.9 MI W OF SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 2010 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 10,500

S-37-402

Good

Over: UNNAMED TRIB

3.6 MI W OF SENECA, Oconee, SC

Built 2010 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 6,800

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.