County profile · official public datasets

Ashe County, NC

247 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.6% rated Good, 41.7% Fair, 24.7% Poor.

247
Public bridges: 33.6%
Good condition: 24.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

98th
of 100 on Poor share: 24.7%
Poor-condition share: 247
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Ashe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ashe County ranks #98 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 24.7%). Ashe County, North Carolina contains 247 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.6% are rated “Good,” 41.7% “Fair,” and 24.7% “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

247

Public highway bridges in Ashe County

Good condition

33.6%

83 of 247 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.7%

103 of 247 rated 5-6

Poor condition

24.7%

61 of 247 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#98 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 247 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.6% (83)

Fair

41.7% (103)

Poor

24.7% (61)

Ashe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,850 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 24.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 653 crossings a day against 1,426 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 247 of 247 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.3% of Ashe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

102 of the 247 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 33.6% 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 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC88 over BUFFALO CREEK, built 1949, carries 7,200 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 61-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,850 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

4
1940s

3
1950s

14
1960s

70
1970s

27
1980s

24
1990s

24
2000s

32
2010s

38
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 70 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Ashe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 24.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ashe County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ashe County (this page)	247	33.6%	41.7%	24.7%	1984
Henderson County	245	35.5%	55.5%	9%	1979
Rowan County	245	55.5%	42.4%	2%	1993
Alamance County	244	48.4%	46.7%	4.9%	1987
Madison County	244	33.2%	45.1%	21.7%	1975
Chatham County	241	42.7%	55.2%	2.1%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (247 bridges here).

Houston County, AL · 247 bridges
Madera County, CA · 247 bridges
Shelby County, IN · 247 bridges
Chickasaw County, MS · 247 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 247 Good 83 Fair 103 Poor 61

Fair-condition bridges (103)

Sort:

Ashe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ashe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,850 vehicle crossings a day

41.3% of Ashe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ashe 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

Fair-condition bridges (103)

SR1527

SR1606

SR1117

SR1547

SR1602

SR1222

SR1613

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1544

SR1100

SR1108

SR1126

SR1195

SR1525

SR1362

SR1595

DEEP GAP ESTATES D

SR1105

SR1176

SR1592

SR1322

NC88

SR1351

SR1539

NC88

SR1362

SR1353

SR1536

SR1644

SR1353

SR1609

SR1318

US221

SR1100

SR1138

SR1147

SR1199

SR1100

NC16

SR1552

SR1138

SR1536

SR1147

NC16

SR1513

SR1168

SR1595

SR1527

SR1003

SR1573

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