County profile · official public datasets

Macon County, NC

223 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30% rated Good, 52.5% Fair, 17.5% Poor.

223
Public bridges: 30%
Good condition: 17.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Macon 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.

95th
of 100 on Poor share: 17.5%
Poor-condition share: 223
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.

Macon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Macon County ranks #95 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.5%). Macon County, North Carolina contains 223 public highway bridges. Roughly 30% are rated “Good,” 52.5% “Fair,” and 17.5% “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

223

Public highway bridges in Macon County

Good condition

30%

67 of 223 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.5%

117 of 223 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.5%

39 of 223 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#95 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 223 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30% (67)

Fair

52.5% (117)

Poor

17.5% (39)

Macon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,620 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,118 crossings a day against 1,830 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 223 of 223 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65% of Macon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

145 of the 223 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 30% 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 43.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US23 441 over RABBIT CREEK, built 1953, carries 19,000 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 43,620 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

7
1940s

3
1950s

28
1960s

68
1970s

48
1980s

13
1990s

11
2000s

11
2010s

24
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.5% 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 Macon County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Macon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Macon County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gaston County	232	36.6%	58.2%	5.2%	1980
Burke County	231	43.3%	51.1%	5.6%	1981
Rockingham County	229	48.5%	39.7%	11.8%	1987
Pitt County	228	64.5%	32%	3.5%	1994
Columbus County	226	60.6%	38.1%	1.3%	1994
Macon County (this page)	223	30%	52.5%	17.5%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (223 bridges here).

Woodford County, IL · 223 bridges
Ford County, KS · 223 bridges
Hardin County, KY · 223 bridges
Stanton County, NE · 223 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 223 Good 67 Fair 117 Poor 39

All bridges (223)

Sort:

Macon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Macon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,620 vehicle crossings a day

65% of Macon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Macon 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 (223)

SR1119

SR1513

SR1472

SR 1309

SR1544

SR1337

SR1134

SR1636

US23 441

SR1115

SR1471

SR1152

SR1122

SR1475

SR1649

SR1306

SR1314

SR1635

SR1168

SR1104

SR1611

SR1456

SR1424

SR1346

SR1660

US23 441

SR1153

SR1448

SR1365

US23 441

CULLASAJA DRIVE

NFSR 424D

SR1369

US64

SR1001

SR1396

SR1679

SR1632

SR1387

SR1485

SR1114

SR1307

SR1390

SR1620

SR1365

SR1390

SR1423

SR1524

NFSR 1178

SR1372

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