County profile · official public datasets

Spartanburg County, SC

638 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.7% rated Good, 38.1% Fair, 10.2% Poor.

638
Public bridges: 51.7%
Good condition: 10.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

39th
of 46 on Poor share: 10.2%
Poor-condition share: 638
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.

Spartanburg County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Spartanburg County ranks #39 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.2%). Spartanburg County, South Carolina contains 638 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.7% are rated “Good,” 38.1% “Fair,” and 10.2% “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

638

Public highway bridges in Spartanburg County

Good condition

51.7%

330 of 638 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.1%

243 of 638 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.2%

65 of 638 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#39 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 638 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.7% (330)

Fair

38.1% (243)

Poor

10.2% (65)

Spartanburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 299,675 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,610 crossings a day against 7,014 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 638 of 638 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.4% of Spartanburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

264 of the 638 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 51.7% 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 9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SC 9 over SC 85, built 1958, carries 26,900 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 65-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 299,675 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

19
1930s

20
1940s

29
1950s

76
1960s

101
1970s

55
1980s

74
1990s

113
2000s

95
2010s

45
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 113 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the South Carolina average (1977).

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Spartanburg County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1981 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 Spartanburg County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Spartanburg County (this page)	638	51.7%	38.1%	10.2%	1979
Greenville County	635	56.7%	35.4%	7.9%	1981
Horry County	479	50.1%	46.1%	3.8%	1986
Anderson County	463	29.6%	65.7%	4.8%	1971
Richland County	361	50.1%	46%	3.9%	1979
Charleston County	336	37.8%	59.8%	2.4%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (638 bridges here).

Mohave County, AZ · 641 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · 644 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · 632 bridges
Will County, IL · 649 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 638 Good 330 Fair 243 Poor 65

Fair-condition bridges (243)

Sort:

Spartanburg County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Spartanburg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 299,675 vehicle crossings a day

41.4% of Spartanburg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Spartanburg 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 (243)

SC 296

C-42-590

S-42-57

C-42-366

US 29 NB

SC 292

SC 14

C-42-412

I-85 NB

US 29 SB

S-42-41

SC 357

S-42-79

S-42-204

S-42-20

I-26 WB

SC 129

S-42-44

I-26 EB

I-26 WB

C-42-1912

C-42-875

S-42-220

S-42-866

US 29

US 176 CON 2

I-26 WB

S-42-525

S-42-787

C-42-1597

SC 129

SC 85

US 176 WB

SC 85

S-42-59

SC 9

S-42-42

S-42-138

I-85 SB

SC 101

I-85

S-42-968

S-42-58

S-42-839

SC 49

US 221

S-42-1017

S-42-243

I-26 EB

I-26 WB

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