County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, NC

234 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.7% rated Good, 47.4% Fair, 12.8% Poor.

234
Public bridges: 39.7%
Good condition: 12.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson 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.

89th
of 100 on Poor share: 12.8%
Poor-condition share: 234
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #89 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.8%). Jackson County, North Carolina contains 234 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.7% are rated “Good,” 47.4% “Fair,” and 12.8% “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

234

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

39.7%

93 of 234 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.4%

111 of 234 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.8%

30 of 234 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#89 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 234 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.7% (93)

Fair

47.4% (111)

Poor

12.8% (30)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,140 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 805 crossings a day against 2,617 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 234 of 234 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

126 of the 234 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 39.7% 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 24.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US64 over LONG BRANCH, built 1965, carries 5,900 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 30-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 24,140 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

5
1940s

12
1950s

26
1960s

46
1970s

54
1980s

25
1990s

11
2000s

7
2010s

40
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1977, 9 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cabarrus County	236	53%	38.6%	8.5%	1993
Catawba County	236	32.6%	60.6%	6.8%	1981
McDowell County	235	43.4%	48.9%	7.7%	1981
Jackson County (this page)	234	39.7%	47.4%	12.8%	1977
Gaston County	232	36.6%	58.2%	5.2%	1980
Burke County	231	43.3%	51.1%	5.6%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (234 bridges here).

Prince of Wales-Hyder County, AK · 234 bridges
Morgan County, IL · 234 bridges
Lyon County, MN · 234 bridges
Eastland County, TX · 234 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 234 Good 93 Fair 111 Poor 30

Fair-condition bridges (111)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,140 vehicle crossings a day

53.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (111)

US441 RAMP

US64

IRR US19

US74 441

US64

SR1001

SR1001

SR1513

IRR BIA RTE 1413

US23 441

US23 441

SR1149

SR1148

US74 WBL

SR1740

SR1388

SR1752

US441

SR1145

NC116

US23 441

SR1431

IRR BIA RTE 1236

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1172

SR1767

IRR US441B

US23 74 NBL

US23 74 SBL

SR1367

US23 74 SBL

US23 74 NBL

US23 74 NBL

US23 74 SBL

SR1313

US23 74 NBL

US23 74 SBL

SR1457

SR1309

US23 74 NBL

US23 74 SBL

SR1756

SR1432

NC107

NC107

SR1392

US23 74 SBL

NC107

US23 74 NBL

US23B

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