State Bridge Profile North Carolina 2014

1. © 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of
ARTBA.
Highlights from FHWA’s 2014 National Bridge Inventory Data:
 Of the 18,117 bridges in the state, 2,199 bridges, or 12% are classified as structurally deficient.
This means one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or
substructure, is considered to be in “poor” or worse condition.1
 There are 3,135 bridges, or 17% of all state bridges, classified as functionally obsolete. This
means the bridge does not meet design standards that are in line with current practice.
 State and local contract awards for bridge construction totaled $2.44 billion over the past five
years, 27 percent of highway and bridge contract awards, compared to a national average of 29
percent.
 Since 2004, 2,175 new bridges have been constructed in the state and 138 bridges have
undergone major reconstruction.
 The state estimates that it would cost approximately $30.0 million to fix a total of 7,066 bridges
in the state.2
Bridge Inventory:
All Bridges Structurally deficient Bridges
Type of Bridge
Total
Number
Area (sq.
meters)
Daily
Crossings
Total
Number
Area (sq.
meters)
Daily
Crossings
Rural Bridges
Interstate 448 352,163 9,390,850 14 21,996 321,000
Other principal arterial 978 1,101,787 9,693,293 50 89,082 586,100
Minor arterial 661 483,466 4,259,390 64 126,542 337,840
Major collector 1,974 1,037,248 6,770,181 217 216,704 724,155
Minor collector 1,588 502,744 2,701,178 251 60,226 378,562
Local 7,453 1,426,984 4,793,963 1,192 182,618 660,750
Urban Bridges
Interstate 741 1,061,436 28,943,983 24 20,958 864,000
Other freeway 540 820,914 12,372,522 43 61,864 1,302,300
Principal arterial 730 726,076 13,266,125 56 58,495 824,850
Minor arterial 839 693,170 9,804,740 62 62,355 582,410
Collector 600 379,950 3,784,540 70 31,545 366,200
Rural 1,565 548,186 6,339,766 156 44,945 493,499
Total 18,117 9,134,125 112,120,531 2,199 977,330 7,441,666
1
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a bridge is classified as structurally deficient if the condition rating for the deck,
superstructure, substructure or culvert and retaining walls is rated 4 or below or if the bridge receives an appraisal rating of 2 or less for
structural condition or waterway adequacy. During inspections, the condition of a variety of bridge elements are rated on a scale of 0 (failed
condition) to 9 (excellent condition). A rating of 4 is considered “poor” condition and the individual element displays signs of advanced section
loss, deterioration, spalling or scour.
2
This data is provided by bridge owners as part of the FHWA data and is required for any bridge eligible for the Highway Bridge Replacement
and Rehabilitation Program. However, for some states this amount is very low and likely not an accurate reflection of current costs.
State Bridge Profile
North Carolina

2. © 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of
ARTBA.
Proposed bridge work:
Type of Work Number Cost (millions) Daily Crossings Area (sq. meters)
Bridge replacement 1,854 $5.1 5,199,694 770,426
Widening & rehabilitation 0 $0.0 0 0
Rehabilitation 5,065 $12.2 31,927,324 2,688,064
Deck rehabilitation/replacement 0 $0.0 0 0
Other work 147 $12.6 145,145 66,735
Top 10 Most Traveled Structurally Deficient Bridges in the State:
County
Year
Built
Daily
Crossings
Type of Bridge Location
Guilford 1955 123,000 Urban Interstate
I-40 and I-85 BUS. over the South Buffalo Creek
(Greensboro Bridge)
Forsyth 1963 81,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-52 and US-311 over US-311
Mecklenburg 1967 72,000 Urban Interstate US-52 over 28th Street
Forsyth 1964 72,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-52 over 25th Street
Forsyth 1955 72,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
I-277 and NC-1 over Brevard Street
Forsyth 1964 72,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
I-40 BUS over SR 4315 (Liberty Street)
Forsyth 1960 71,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-421 over Little Creek
Forsyth 1971 59,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-52/US-311/NC-8 over Diggs Boulevard
Forsyth 1971 56,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-52/US-311/NC-8 over I-40 and US-311
Buncombe 1970 55,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
US-19 23 70 over NC-251
Sources: All data is from the 2014 National Bridge Inventory, released by the Federal Highway Administration in January 2015.
Note that specific conditions on bridge may have changed as a result of recent work. Cost estimates of bridge work provided as
part of the data and have been adjusted to 2014$ for inflation and estimated project costs. Contract awards data is for state
and local government awards and comes from McGraw Hill. Note that additional bridge investment may be a part of other
contract awards if a smaller bridge project is included with a highway project, and that would not be accounted for in the total
in this profile.