County profile · official public datasets

Graham County, NC

94 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.1% rated Good, 60.6% Fair, 4.3% Poor.

94
Public bridges: 35.1%
Good condition: 4.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.3%
Poor-condition share: 94
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Graham County ranks #44 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.3%). Graham County, North Carolina contains 94 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.1% are rated “Good,” 60.6% “Fair,” and 4.3% “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

Public highway bridges in Graham County

Good condition

35.1%

33 of 94 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.6%

57 of 94 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.3%

4 of 94 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 94 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.1% (33)

Fair

60.6% (57)

Poor

4.3% (4)

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,740 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 435 crossings a day against 589 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 94 of 94 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.9% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

45 of the 94 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 35.1% 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 46% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NC28 over LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER, built 1943, carries 800 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,740 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

4
1950s

11
1960s

22
1970s

16
1980s

13
1990s

11
2000s

1
2010s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1979, 7 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Graham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Graham County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scotland County	101	44.6%	54.5%	1%	1983
Lee County	98	57.1%	42.9%	0%	1989
Bertie County	95	50.5%	46.3%	3.2%	1993
Graham County (this page)	94	35.1%	60.6%	4.3%	1979
Davie County	93	33.3%	62.4%	4.3%	1982
Caswell County	90	58.9%	35.6%	5.6%	1991

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (94 bridges here).

Yukon-Koyukuk County, AK · 94 bridges
Lee County, AR · 94 bridges
Huerfano County, CO · 94 bridges
Henry County, KY · 94 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 94 Good 33 Fair 57 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (33)

Sort:

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,740 vehicle crossings a day

47.9% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 46% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Graham 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

Good-condition bridges (33)

SR1242

NFSR 81

IRR BIA RTE 667

IRR BIA RTE 492

NC28

SR1117

SR1250

SR1123

NC143

NFSR 81

SR1144

SR1123

SR1232

SR1119

NFSR 81C

ACCESS TO SCHOOL

SR1134

SR1237

NC 143

SR1212

SR1223

NC143B

SR1214

NC143

SR1103

NFSR 2536A

NFSR 2537

SR1223

NFSR 2579

SR1233

SR1207

SR1138

SR1293

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