County profile · official public datasets

York County, SC

288 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.7% rated Good, 49.7% Fair, 7.6% Poor.

288
Public bridges: 42.7%
Good condition: 7.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

32nd
of 46 on Poor share: 7.6%
Poor-condition share: 288
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

York County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, York County ranks #32 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.6%). York County, South Carolina contains 288 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.7% are rated “Good,” 49.7% “Fair,” and 7.6% “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

288

Public highway bridges in York County

Good condition

42.7%

123 of 288 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.7%

143 of 288 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.6%

22 of 288 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 46

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

Condition distribution

Share of 288 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.7% (123)

Fair

49.7% (143)

Poor

7.6% (22)

York County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60,350 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,743 crossings a day against 4,077 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 288 of 288 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.9% of York County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

112 of the 288 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 42.7% 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 23.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S-46-50 over MANCHESTER CREEK, built 1963, carries 14,200 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 60,350 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

10
1940s

5
1950s

14
1960s

45
1970s

69
1980s

23
1990s

38
2000s

35
2010s

36
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 69 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 7 years newer than the South Carolina average of 1977.

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

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest York County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for York 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	291	48.1%	42.6%	9.3%	1979
York County (this page)	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 York 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 York County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (288 bridges here).

Chariton County, MO · 288 bridges
Rockingham County, VA · 288 bridges
Union County, AR · 289 bridges
Butler County, IA · 289 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 288 Good 123 Fair 143 Poor 22

All bridges (288)

Sort:

York County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

York County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60,350 vehicle crossings a day

38.9% of York County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How York 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 (288)

S-46-22

C-46-1180

SC 5

SC 5

S-46-162

S-46-728

SC 460

S-46-253

C-46-345

SC 55

S-46-251

S-46-380

S-46-228

C-46-704

SC 460

S-46-101

SC 5

S-46-152

S-46-195

S-46-11

S-46-54

SC 324

SC 72

S-46-152

S-46-70

S-46-165

S-46-160

S-46-101

S-46-961

AVENUE OF THE NATI

STURGIS ROAD

S-46-655

SC 5 BUS

S-46-739

S-46-650

S-46-764

SC 460

C-46-523

S-46-196

S-46-347

S-46-423

S-46-347

S-46-103

S-46-101

US 21

S-46-816

S-46-657

S-46-962

SC 322

S-46-536

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