County profile · official public datasets

Rabun County, GA

118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.6% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

118
Public bridges: 57.6%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

107th
of 159 on Poor share: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 118
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Rabun County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rabun County ranks #107 of 159 Georgia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Rabun County, Georgia contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.6% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

118

Public highway bridges in Rabun County

Good condition

57.6%

68 of 118 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.7%

48 of 118 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

2 of 118 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#107 of 159

Among Georgia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.6% (68)

Fair

40.7% (48)

Poor

1.7% (2)

Rabun County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,370 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,685 crossings a day against 2,812 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.5% of Rabun County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 118 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 57.6% 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 99.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 15 US 23 US over BETTY CREEK, built 1926, carries 9,330 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,370 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

10
1940s

10
1950s

12
1960s

16
1970s

13
1980s

24
1990s

14
2000s

10
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Georgia average (1977).

How Rabun County compares with Georgia's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Georgia counties nearest Rabun County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 158 Georgia counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rabun County and the 5 Georgia counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County	123	66.7%	31.7%	1.6%	1984
Emanuel County	121	81%	17.4%	1.7%	1972
Rabun County (this page)	118	57.6%	40.7%	1.7%	1973
Franklin County	117	70.1%	27.4%	2.6%	1976
Polk County	117	74.4%	23.9%	1.7%	1970
Walton County	115	72.2%	26.1%	1.7%	1981

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 Rabun 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 Rabun County, both outside Georgia so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside GA (118 bridges here).

Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
Montrose County, CO · 118 bridges
Johnson County, IL · 118 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside GA (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 118 Good 68 Fair 48 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (48)

Sort:

Rabun County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rabun County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,370 vehicle crossings a day

47.5% of Rabun County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 99.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rabun County compares with Georgia'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 (48)

FDR-86-B

FDR-25

TALLULAH RIVER RD

WOLF CRK CH RD

GREENWOOD ROAD

TALLULAH RIVER RD

MESSER CREEK RD

BILLINGSLEY CK RD

MELLIE KEENER RD.

JOE SPEED ROAD

SR 28

WARWOMAN ROAD

OLD US 441

SHADYSIDE DRIVE

CR 152

TALLULAH RIVER RD

JIM MCCRACKIN RD

EARLS FORD ROAD

WOLF CREEK RD

O. V. JUSTUS ROAD

WARWOMAN ROAD

TALLULAH RIVER RD

HIGHLANDS ROAD

DUGGAN HILL ROAD

LAKE RABUN ROAD

TALLULAH ROAD

OLD US 441

OLD 441

CHECHERO STREET

JOHN HOUCK RD.

RAINBOW CREEK RD.

OVERFLOW ROAD

BURRELLS FORD ROAD

MARSENGILLE DRIVE

COLEMAN RIVER ROAD

US23 US441 SR15SBL

KELLEYS CRK ROAD

WORLEY CREEK RD

CHARLIE MTN ROAD

BIG CREEK ROAD

DARNELL CREEK RD

BECK ROAD

TALLULAH RIVER RD

CHESTER YORK RD

TALLULAH RIVER RD

BRIDGE CREEK ROAD

SR 197

TUCKALUGE ROAD

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