County profile · official public datasets

Orangeburg County, SC

273 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.9% rated Good, 76.6% Fair, 5.5% Poor.

273
Public bridges: 17.9%
Good condition: 5.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Orangeburg 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.

25th
of 46 on Poor share: 5.5%
Poor-condition share: 273
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Orangeburg County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Orangeburg County ranks #25 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.5%). Orangeburg County, South Carolina contains 273 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.9% are rated “Good,” 76.6% “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

273

Public highway bridges in Orangeburg County

Good condition

17.9%

49 of 273 rated 7-9

Fair condition

76.6%

209 of 273 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.5%

15 of 273 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 273 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

17.9% (49)

Fair

76.6% (209)

Poor

5.5% (15)

Orangeburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,902 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% 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 727 crossings a day against 3,837 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 273 of 273 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.4% of Orangeburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

195 of the 273 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 17.9% 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 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 176 over TARGET CREEK, built 1950, carries 3,700 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,902 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

13
1930s

27
1940s

28
1950s

32
1960s

59
1970s

53
1980s

13
1990s

14
2000s

25
2010s

7
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 11 years older than the South Carolina average of 1977.

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Orangeburg County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Orangeburg County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pickens County	291	48.1%	42.6%	9.3%	1979
York County	288	42.7%	49.7%	7.6%	1984
Florence County	277	33.9%	63.5%	2.5%	1976
Orangeburg County (this page)	273	17.9%	76.6%	5.5%	1966
Laurens County	259	32.8%	59.5%	7.7%	1974
Colleton County	231	35.9%	62.3%	1.7%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (273 bridges here).

Sevier County, TN · 273 bridges
Cass County, NE · 274 bridges
Knox County, OH · 274 bridges
Wayne County, TN · 274 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 273 Good 49 Fair 209 Poor 15

All bridges (273)

Sort:

Orangeburg County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Orangeburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,902 vehicle crossings a day

71.4% of Orangeburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Orangeburg 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 (273)

S-38-193

S-38-190

S-38-63

S-38-279

S-38-1255

S-38-1540

S-38-71

S-38-195

S-38-260

SC 3

SC 70

US 301 SB

US 178

SC 332

SC 70

S-38-90

US 301 NB

US 21_BUS

US 15

SC 3

SC 400

S-38-65

S-38-50

S-38-196

S-38-196

S-38-692

S-38-74

S-38-162

US 178

S-38-1303

S-38-1302

SC 6

US 301 NB

US 21

US 301

SC 3

S-38-39

S-38-49

SC 210

S-38-104

SC 453

SC 332

S-38-36

S-38-39

US 21

S-38-49

S-38-74

SC 33

US 21

SC 210

Related