County profile · official public datasets

Pickens County, SC

291 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.1% rated Good, 42.6% Fair, 9.3% Poor.

291
Public bridges: 48.1%
Good condition: 9.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

36th
of 46 on Poor share: 9.3%
Poor-condition share: 291
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Pickens County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pickens County ranks #36 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.3%). Pickens County, South Carolina contains 291 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.1% are rated “Good,” 42.6% “Fair,” and 9.3% “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

291

Public highway bridges in Pickens County

Good condition

48.1%

140 of 291 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.6%

124 of 291 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.3%

27 of 291 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#36 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 291 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.1% (140)

Fair

42.6% (124)

Poor

9.3% (27)

Pickens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 69,875 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,588 crossings a day against 1,664 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 291 of 291 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.5% of Pickens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

144 of the 291 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 48.1% 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 16.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 123 over GEORGES CREEK, built 1948, carries 11,600 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 69,875 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

13
1940s

8
1950s

26
1960s

81
1970s

23
1980s

21
1990s

28
2000s

54
2010s

28
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 81 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the South Carolina average (1977).

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Pickens County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1978 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 Pickens County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Charleston County	336	37.8%	59.8%	2.4%	1988
Pickens County (this page)	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	273	17.9%	76.6%	5.5%	1966
Laurens County	259	32.8%	59.5%	7.7%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (291 bridges here).

Scott County, IA · 291 bridges
Macon County, MO · 291 bridges
Canyon County, ID · 292 bridges
Hancock County, IL · 292 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 291 Good 140 Fair 124 Poor 27

Fair-condition bridges (124)

Sort:

Pickens County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pickens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 69,875 vehicle crossings a day

49.5% of Pickens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pickens 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 (124)

S-39-158

S-39-159

S-39-122

S-39-90

S-39-291

C-39-1929

C-39-517

S-39-23

S-39-44

S-39-159

SC 133

US 178

L-39-480

S-39-2

C-39-129

S-39-237

S-39-49

SC 135

S-39-54

S-39-222

S-39-222

S-39-222

S-39-41

S-39-230

S-39-415

S-39-71

S-39-126

S-39-261

S-39-395

S-39-272

S-39-162

S-39-162

S-39-56

S-39-90

S-39-274

S-39-32

S-39-57

S-39-111

SC 133

S-39-26

S-39-26

S-39-33

S-39-110

S-39-166

S-39-52

S-39-273

C-39-494

SC 135

S-39-135

S-39-137

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