North Carolina Infrastructure Overview
While the nation’s infrastructure earned a C in the 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, North Carolina faces infrastructure challenges of its own. For example, driving on roads in need of repair in North Carolina costs each driver $500 per year, and 9.3% of bridges are rated structurally deficient. Drinking water needs in North Carolina are an estimated $16.8 billion. 1,307 dams are considered to be high-hazard potential. The state’s schools have an estimated capital expenditure gap of $660 million. This deteriorating infrastructure impedes North Carolina’s ability to compete in an increasingly global marketplace. Success in a 21st-century economy requires serious, sustained leadership on infrastructure investment at all levels of government. Delaying these investments only escalates the cost and risks of an aging infrastructure system, an option that the country, North Carolina, and families can no longer afford.
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Explore North Carolina
- State Fact Sheet
- IIJA Grants
$20 billion is needed to maintain and improve North Carolina's drinking water infrastructure over the next 20 years.
State Fact Sheet
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Aviation
$72.7 million in 2024 airport improvement grants across 14 major airports
Drinking Water
$20.0 billion total drinking water need
Transit
51 million passenger trips across 104 systems in 2023
Bridges
19,210 bridges, 6.8% of which were structurally deficient in 2024
Hazardous Waste
47 Superfund sites
Wastewater
$12.6 billion total wastewater need
Dams
1,579 high hazard dams
Levees
59 miles of levees protect 570 residents.
Roads
37% of roads are in poor or fair condition
IIJA Grants
for the Kings Mountain Lithium Materials Processing Plant
to City of Carolina Beach for shoreline resilience
for Coastal Carolina Regional Airport in New Bern
to City of Wilson for brownfield improvements
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