County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, NC

244 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.2% rated Good, 45.1% Fair, 21.7% Poor.

244
Public bridges: 33.2%
Good condition: 21.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Madison 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.

97th
of 100 on Poor share: 21.7%
Poor-condition share: 244
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #97 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 21.7%). Madison County, North Carolina contains 244 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.2% are rated “Good,” 45.1% “Fair,” and 21.7% “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

244

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

33.2%

81 of 244 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.1%

110 of 244 rated 5-6

Poor condition

21.7%

53 of 244 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#97 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 244 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.2% (81)

Fair

45.1% (110)

Poor

21.7% (53)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,480 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 21.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 651 crossings a day against 2,411 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 244 of 244 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.4% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

140 of the 244 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 33.2% 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 31.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US19 over MIDDLE FORK CREEK, built 1960, carries 11,000 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 53-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 34,480 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

9
1940s

3
1950s

50
1960s

61
1970s

34
1980s

14
1990s

19
2000s

23
2010s

21
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% 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 Madison County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 21.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ashe County	247	33.6%	41.7%	24.7%	1984
Henderson County	245	35.5%	55.5%	9%	1979
Rowan County	245	55.5%	42.4%	2%	1993
Alamance County	244	48.4%	46.7%	4.9%	1987
Madison County (this page)	244	33.2%	45.1%	21.7%	1975
Chatham County	241	42.7%	55.2%	2.1%	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 Madison 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 Madison County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (244 bridges here).

Spencer County, IN · 244 bridges
Norton County, KS · 244 bridges
Osborne County, KS · 244 bridges
Allegan County, MI · 244 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 244 Good 81 Fair 110 Poor 53

Poor-condition bridges (53)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,480 vehicle crossings a day

57.4% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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

Poor-condition bridges (53)

SR1341

SR1457

SR1378

SR1559

SR1396

SR1330

SR1336

SR1355

SR1530

SR1395

SR1612

SR1318

SR1395

SR1339

SR1557

SR1151

SR1127

SR1347

SR1564

SR1319

US23

SR1151

9901

SR1370

SR1318

NC209

SR1318

SR1526

SR1395

NC208

SR1151

NC212

SR1175

SR1517

SR1198

SR1364

SR1574

SR1318

SR1318

SR1503

SR1303

SR1527

NC63

NC63

SR1370

NC212

US19

SR1510

SR1500

SR1135

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