County profile · official public datasets

Alexander County, NC

107 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.3% rated Good, 43% Fair, 4.7% Poor.

107
Public bridges: 52.3%
Good condition: 4.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 100 on Poor share: 4.7%
Poor-condition share: 107
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

Alexander County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Alexander County ranks #51 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Alexander County, North Carolina contains 107 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.3% are rated “Good,” 43% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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

107

Public highway bridges in Alexander County

Good condition

52.3%

56 of 107 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43%

46 of 107 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.7%

5 of 107 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 107 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.3% (56)

Fair

43% (46)

Poor

4.7% (5)

Alexander County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,050 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,210 crossings a day against 1,424 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 107 of 107 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.1% of Alexander County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 107 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 52.3% 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 39.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1110 over LOWER LITTLE RIVER, built 1968, carries 2,400 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,050 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1940s

2
1950s

10
1960s

14
1970s

7
1980s

12
1990s

23
2000s

14
2010s

20
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1990) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

How Alexander County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Alexander County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 5 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Alexander County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pender County	112	33.9%	63.4%	2.7%	1983
Avery County	108	25.9%	64.8%	9.3%	1983
Alexander County (this page)	107	52.3%	43%	4.7%	1990
Person County	106	37.7%	60.4%	1.9%	1986
Scotland County	101	44.6%	54.5%	1%	1983
Lee County	98	57.1%	42.9%	0%	1989

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 Alexander 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 Alexander County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (107 bridges here).

Fannin County, GA · 107 bridges
Habersham County, GA · 107 bridges
Ware County, GA · 107 bridges
Magoffin County, KY · 107 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Brazoria County, TX · avg 1990 · 618 bridges

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

All 107 Good 56 Fair 46 Poor 5

All bridges (107)

Sort:

Alexander County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Alexander County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,050 vehicle crossings a day

27.1% of Alexander County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Alexander County compares with North 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 (107)

SR1447

SR1605

SR1425

SR1409

SR1403

SR1403

NC127

NC127

SR1310

SR1152

SR1301

US64 & NC90

SR1302

SR1466

SR1310

SR1626

SR1306

NC16

SR1610

NC16

NC16

SR1143

SR1318

SR1467

SR1626

SR1137

SR1001

SR1403

SR1307

SR1002

SR1403

SR1419

SR 1150

SR1303

SR1304

SR1491

SR1305

SR1307

SR1302

SR1137

SR1605

SR1307

SR1458

SR1334

SR1150

SR1329

SR1311

NC16

SR1579

SR1405

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