County profile · official public datasets

Transylvania County, NC

162 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.7% rated Good, 45.7% Fair, 13.6% Poor.

162
Public bridges: 40.7%
Good condition: 13.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Transylvania 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.

90th
of 100 on Poor share: 13.6%
Poor-condition share: 162
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.

Transylvania County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Transylvania County ranks #90 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.6%). Transylvania County, North Carolina contains 162 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.7% are rated “Good,” 45.7% “Fair,” and 13.6% “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

162

Public highway bridges in Transylvania County

Good condition

40.7%

66 of 162 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.7%

74 of 162 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.6%

22 of 162 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#90 of 100

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

Condition distribution

Share of 162 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.7% (66)

Fair

45.7% (74)

Poor

13.6% (22)

Transylvania County's Poor-condition bridges carry 54,950 vehicle crossings a day

That is 16.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,498 crossings a day against 1,871 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 162 of 162 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.3% of Transylvania County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

75 of the 162 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 40.7% 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 28.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US64 over ABANDONED SOUTHERN RR, built 1966, carries 15,500 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 54,950 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

12
1950s

21
1960s

31
1970s

15
1980s

13
1990s

15
2000s

8
2010s

35
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the North Carolina average of 1986.

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

The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Transylvania County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1984 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 Transylvania County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brunswick County	166	39.2%	54.8%	6%	1991
Cherokee County	163	38.7%	57.1%	4.3%	1977
Stanly County	163	57.7%	39.3%	3.1%	1985
Yancey County	163	36.2%	47.2%	16.6%	1982
Transylvania County (this page)	162	40.7%	45.7%	13.6%	1981
Halifax County	158	36.7%	61.4%	1.9%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NC (162 bridges here).

Perry County, AL · 162 bridges
Johnson County, AR · 162 bridges
Ouachita County, AR · 162 bridges
Bond County, IL · 162 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 162 Good 66 Fair 74 Poor 22

Good-condition bridges (66)

Sort:

Transylvania County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Transylvania County's Poor-condition bridges carry 54,950 vehicle crossings a day

46.3% of Transylvania County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Transylvania 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

Good-condition bridges (66)

SR1123

NC215

US276

NC281

PRIVATE DRIVE

NO DATA ENTERED

US276

US64

NFSR 477

NFSR 477

SR1546

SR1504

SR1107

NFSR 475B

SR1540

US64

US64

SR1129

SR1541

SR1318

SR1143

NC215

SR1532

SR1560

SR1119

SR1152

SR1535

NC215

SR1324

SR1105

SR1143

SR1504

SR1152

SR1109

SR1324

SR1105

SR1139

SR1327

SR1152

SR1313

SR1152

SR1346

SR1127

SR1504

NFSR 140

SR1511

NC280

SR1147

SR1538

SR1502

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