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.

1930s

12
1940s

9
1950s

28
1960s

74
1970s

33
1980s

21
1990s

20
2000s

9
2010s

9

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.

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	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	218	31.7%	62.8%	5.5%	1974
Berkeley County	216	34.7%	63%	2.3%	1979
Oconee County (this page)	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 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).

Lawrence County, AL · 215 bridges
Idaho County, ID · 215 bridges
Terrebonne County, LA · 215 bridges
Marshall County, MN · 215 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All bridges (215)

Sort:

Oconee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 18.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Oconee 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 (215)

S-37-57

S-37-148

S-37-66

S-37-181

SC 130

S-37-181

S-37-57

S-37-32

S-37-57

S-37-24

L-37-626

SC 183

SC 11

C-37-569

S-37-210

C-37-925

US 76

S-37-34

SC 59

S-37-184

S-37-37

S-37-67

SC 130

I-85 NB

S-37-160

TAMASSEE CREEK-Bri

US 123

SC 59

S-37-640

SC 59

S-37-160

C-37-3954

US 123

S-37-68

S-37-59

SC 11

S-37-488

S-37-284

SC 11

SC 11

S-37-100

SC 11

SC 183

S-37-54

S-37-65

US 76

SC 11

SC 28

U.S. 221

I-85 SB

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