County profile · official public datasets

Mitchell County, NC

127 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.4% rated Good, 39.4% Fair, 25.2% Poor.

127
Public bridges: 35.4%
Good condition: 25.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Mitchell 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.

99th
of 100 on Poor share: 25.2%
Poor-condition share: 127
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Mitchell County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mitchell County ranks #99 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.2%). Mitchell County, North Carolina contains 127 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.4% are rated “Good,” 39.4% “Fair,” and 25.2% “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

127

Public highway bridges in Mitchell County

Good condition

35.4%

45 of 127 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.4%

50 of 127 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.2%

32 of 127 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#99 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 127 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.4% (45)

Fair

39.4% (50)

Poor

25.2% (32)

Mitchell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,420 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 576 crossings a day against 1,243 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 127 of 127 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.5% of Mitchell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 127 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 35.4% 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 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR1403 over N.TOE RIVER N&S RR., built 1986, carries 4,800 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,420 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

18
1960s

25
1970s

20
1980s

12
1990s

15
2000s

5
2010s

24
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Mitchell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mitchell County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Swain County	129	25.6%	62.8%	11.6%	1973
Polk County	127	35.4%	53.5%	11%	1978
Mitchell County (this page)	127	35.4%	39.4%	25.2%	1981
Martin County	124	45.2%	51.6%	3.2%	1988
Bladen County	123	64.2%	34.1%	1.6%	1992
New Hanover County	123	65%	31.7%	3.3%	1995

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (127 bridges here).

Yuba County, CA · 127 bridges
Jefferson County, ID · 127 bridges
Harrison County, IN · 127 bridges
Vermillion County, IN · 127 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 127 Good 45 Fair 50 Poor 32

All bridges (127)

Sort:

Mitchell County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mitchell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,420 vehicle crossings a day

46.5% of Mitchell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mitchell 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 (127)

SR1313

SR1214

SR1223

SR1330

SR1211

SR1235

SR1349

NC197

NC226

SR1116

SR1002

SR1321

SR1278

SR1330

SR1345

SR1357

NC226

NC226

US19E

NC226A

NC197

SR1118

SR1275

SR1321

SR1349

SR1121

SR1213

NC261

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

US19E

SR1117

SR1219

SR1002

SR1346

SR1128

SR1301

SR1162

SR1349

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

NC226

SR1297

SR1143

SR1197

SR1197

SR1160

SR1187

SR1206

NC226

SR1199

SR1322

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