County profile · official public datasets

Haywood County, NC

286 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.7% rated Good, 53.8% Fair, 16.4% Poor.

286
Public bridges: 29.7%
Good condition: 16.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Haywood 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.

93rd
of 100 on Poor share: 16.4%
Poor-condition share: 286
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Haywood County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Haywood County ranks #93 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.4%). Haywood County, North Carolina contains 286 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.7% are rated “Good,” 53.8% “Fair,” and 16.4% “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

286

Public highway bridges in Haywood County

Good condition

29.7%

85 of 286 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.8%

154 of 286 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.4%

47 of 286 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#93 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 286 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.7% (85)

Fair

53.8% (154)

Poor

16.4% (47)

Haywood County's Poor-condition bridges carry 283,741 vehicle crossings a day

That is 17% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,037 crossings a day against 3,279 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 286 of 286 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.3% of Haywood County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

181 of the 286 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 29.7% 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 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US19 23 74 over SR1527, built 1969, carries 39,000 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 47-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 283,741 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

11
1940s

2
1950s

27
1960s

116
1970s

31
1980s

15
1990s

13
2000s

25
2010s

29
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 116 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 40.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 11 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Haywood County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Haywood County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Surry County	308	28.9%	62%	9.1%	1979
Rutherford County	298	40.3%	47.3%	12.4%	1974
Haywood County (this page)	286	29.7%	53.8%	16.4%	1975
Robeson County	285	52.6%	46.3%	1.1%	1990
Cleveland County	270	39.3%	50.4%	10.4%	1978
Nash County	260	35%	60.4%	4.6%	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 Haywood 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 Haywood County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (286 bridges here).

Bryan County, OK · 286 bridges
Plymouth County, MA · 287 bridges
Washington County, LA · 285 bridges
Platte County, MO · 285 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 286 Good 85 Fair 154 Poor 47

All bridges (286)

Sort:

Haywood County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Haywood County's Poor-condition bridges carry 283,741 vehicle crossings a day

63.3% of Haywood County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Haywood 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 (286)

OLD CATALOOCHEE EN

SR1341

SR1888

SR1500

BROOKSIDE COURT

SR1242

NFSR 148

SR1374

SR1888

MEADOWBROOKE CIRCL

SR1149

WALNUT TRAIL

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1613

SR1306

OLD CATALOOCHEE EN

NFSR 148

US276

SR1503

DEPOT STREET

SMATHERS STREET

CATALOOCHEE ENTRAN

SR1505

SR1585

SR1101

SR1307

SR1503

US276

SR1533

NC110

SR1331

US276

NFSR 288

SR1106

NC215

CATALOOCHEE ENTRAN

US23 BUS.

NC215

SR1304

SR1212

SCHOOL ACCESS RD

SUBSTATION ROAD

CATALOOCHEE ENTRAN

SR1176

SR1104

VANCE STREET

SR1394

US276

SR1177

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