The short, 105-year-old span east of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, is traveled by most every resident, commuter or tourist driving between Interstate 95 and northern Beaufort County.
"It's definitely outlived its life," said Curtis Bryce, a maintenance engineer for the S.C. Department of Transportation.
The AAA list is not an indication of an unsafe bridge, but highlights bridges that are both substandard and well-traveled, said Tom Davis, vice president of communications for the automobile association.
The bridge received some improvements in 1948, Bryce said, likely including widening the bridge to its current five-lane span. But its age likely puts the bridge's design and load capacity at a level in need of replacement.
"Any bridge this old is going to be on a replacement list," Bryce said. Although Bryce could not provide a timetable for the bridge replacement, he said it likely falls behind other aged bridges in the state that have additional insufficiencies in lane size and rail design.
And any bridge replacements face the reality of a Transportation Department with funding deficiencies.
Transportation Department officials have estimated that the state needs an addition $1.8 billion a year for new roads and bridges and to maintain existing roads.
"The problem is the legislature is underfunding this effort," Davis said. "The more these are underfunded, the more expensive repairs are going to be."
Several bills in the legislature would look to increase road maintenance funding by transferring dollars spent elsewhere or by raising the 16 cent gas tax charged to drivers.
Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, has drafted legislation that would impose a 5 percent franchise fee on retail gas companies based on the amount of gas sold to help pay for maintenance and capital projects for the Transportation Department.
Richardson said he's received some support, but legislators wary of tax increases may not be there to support the needed funding boost.
"When the rubber hits the road and it's time to vote, I don't know where we're going to be," he said.