County profile · official public datasets

Avery County, NC

108 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.9% rated Good, 64.8% Fair, 9.3% Poor.

108
Public bridges: 25.9%
Good condition: 9.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

76th
of 100 on Poor share: 9.3%
Poor-condition share: 108
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Avery County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Avery County ranks #76 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.3%). Avery County, North Carolina contains 108 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.9% are rated “Good,” 64.8% “Fair,” and 9.3% “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

108

Public highway bridges in Avery County

Good condition

25.9%

28 of 108 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.8%

70 of 108 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.3%

10 of 108 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#76 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 108 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.9% (28)

Fair

64.8% (70)

Poor

9.3% (10)

Avery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,810 vehicle crossings a day

That is 14.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,481 crossings a day against 740 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 108 of 108 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37% of Avery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

40 of the 108 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 25.9% 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 30.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC184 over SHAWNEEHAW CREEK, built 1952, carries 7,600 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 24,810 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

6
1950s

12
1960s

16
1970s

12
1980s

9
1990s

16
2000s

13
2010s

16
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the North Carolina average (1986).

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Avery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1985 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 Avery County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Alleghany County	117	47%	41.9%	11.1%	1982
Pender County	112	33.9%	63.4%	2.7%	1983
Avery County (this page)	108	25.9%	64.8%	9.3%	1983
Alexander County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (108 bridges here).

Lassen County, CA · 108 bridges
Pulaski County, IL · 108 bridges
West Feliciana County, LA · 108 bridges
Brown County, MN · 108 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 108 Good 28 Fair 70 Poor 10

All bridges (108)

Sort:

Avery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Avery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,810 vehicle crossings a day

37% of Avery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Avery 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 (108)

SR1306

SR1361

SR1326

SR1132

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

NFSR 981

SR1140

SR1349

SR1514

SR1351

NC181

US221

SR1545

SR1305

US19E

ASH STREET

SR1514

MOUNTAIN VISTA LN.

NC105

WATAUGA STREET

NFSR 981

SR1548

SR1514

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1121

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1121

SR1126

SR1138

US221

US321

US19E

US19E

NC181

NC194

SR1524

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

ELKMONT LANE

SHAWNEEHAW HEIGHTS

US19E

SR1107

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1157

SR1158

SR1530

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

US221BYP NC181

US19E

Related