County profile · official public datasets

Buncombe County, NC

555 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.6% rated Good, 58.4% Fair, 7% Poor.

555
Public bridges
34.6%
Good condition
7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Buncombe County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

66th
of 100 on Poor share
7%
Poor-condition share
555
public highway bridges
1978
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.

Buncombe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Buncombe County ranks #66 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7%). Buncombe County, North Carolina contains 555 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.6% are rated “Good,” 58.4% “Fair,” and 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

555

Public highway bridges in Buncombe County

Good condition

34.6%

192 of 555 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.4%

324 of 555 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7%

39 of 555 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 555 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
34.6% (192)
Fair
58.4% (324)
Poor
7% (39)

Buncombe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 267,310 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,854 crossings a day against 8,377 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 555 of 555 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.8% of Buncombe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

282 of the 555 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 34.6% 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% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US19 23 over I-240 OFF RAMPS, built 1968, carries 48,000 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 39-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 267,310 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Buncombe County's bridges were built

555 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 135 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1978, 8 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Buncombe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Buncombe County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Mecklenburg County 746 2.5%
Guilford County 736 5.3%
Buncombe County (this page) 555 7%
Forsyth County 454 9%
Randolph County 401 1.5%
Union County 353 4.2%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (555 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1978 here).

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

All 555 Good 192 Fair 324 Poor 39

Fair-condition bridges (324)

SR3432

Fair

Over: POND BRANCH

.01 MI.E.JCT.SR3431, Buncombe, NC

Built 1995 Load: 81.6 t ADT: 100

BENT CREEK ROAD

Fair

Over: BENT CREEK

.2 MI.E.JCT.ROCKY COVE RD, Buncombe, NC

Built 1960 Load: 81.6 t ADT: 1,000

BENT CREEK ROAD

Fair

Over: BENT CREEK

50 FT.W.JCT.ROCKY COVE RD, Buncombe, NC

Built 1960 Load: 81.6 t ADT: 1,000

SR2786

Fair

Over: FLAT CREEK

.8 MI.N.JCT.SR2805, Buncombe, NC

Built 1976 Load: 83.4 t ADT: 270

SR2702

Fair

Over: SWANNANOA RIVER

.01 MI.E.JCT.SR2708, Buncombe, NC

Built 1987 Load: 87.9 t ADT: 380

I-240 EBL RAMP

Fair

Over: US70

.53 MI.W.JCT.US74, Buncombe, NC

Built 1980 Load: 88.9 t ADT: 11,500

SR1003

Fair

Over: PAINT FORK CREEK

.4 MI.S.JCT.SR2170, Buncombe, NC

Built 1991 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,200

SR1390

Fair

Over: SUGAR CREEK

.7 MI.S.JCT.SR1391, Buncombe, NC

Built 1978 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 210

SR1392

Fair

Over: SANDYMUSH CREEK

.04 MI.W.JCT SR1397, Buncombe, NC

Built 1978 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 520

I40

Fair

Over: RAGSDALE CREEK

0.4 MI.E.JCT.SR1224, Buncombe, NC

Built 1966 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 74,500

SR2002

Fair

Over: BULL CREEK

.01 MI.N.JCT.SR2423, Buncombe, NC

Built 1980 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 2,200

SR2419

Fair

Over: SHOPE CREEK

.05 MI.N.JCT.SR2426, Buncombe, NC

Built 2013 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 350

SR1140

Fair

Over: UT TO HOMINY CREEK

0.5 MI. S.OF JCT. US19-23, Buncombe, NC

Built 2018 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 410

SR2133

Fair

Over: LITTLE FLAT CREEK

0.1 MI.N.JCT.SR2130, Buncombe, NC

Built 1988 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 440

PINECROFT RD.

Fair

Over: BEAVERDAM CREEK

500 FT.N.BEAVERDAM RD., Buncombe, NC

Built 1990 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 200

SR1002

Fair

Over: LEE CREEK

20FT.E.JCT.SR1368, Buncombe, NC

Built 1995 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 4,000

BROOKSIDE CIRCLE

Fair

Over: MOORE CREEK

.01 MI.W.JCT.EDGEWOOD RD., Buncombe, NC

Built 1989 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 150

SR2838

Fair

Over: CHRISTIAN CR.

.03 MI.N.JCT.I40, Buncombe, NC

Built 1972 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 16,000

US25 70

Fair

Over: GARRISON BRANCH

1 MI.N.JCT.SR1727, Buncombe, NC

Built 1982 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 18,000

HEMPHILL ROAD

Fair

Over: SWANNANOA RIVER

.01 MI.S.JCT.US70, Buncombe, NC

Built 1982 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 50

SR1781

Fair

Over: UT TO REED CREEK

.22 MI.S.JCT.SR1683, Buncombe, NC

Built 1990 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 13,000

SR1368

Fair

Over: LEE CREEK

.2 MI.S.JCT.SR1367, Buncombe, NC

Built 1960 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,500

ELIZABETH STREET

Fair

Over: REED CREEK

.1MI. S. JCT. BROADWAY ST, Buncombe, NC

Built 1998 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 7,200

U.S. ROUTE 74A (EB

Fair

Over: CREEK

ACCESS RAMP TO U.S. ROUTE, Buncombe, NC

Built 1967 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,000

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.