Total bridges
200
Public highway bridges in Watauga County
County profile · official public datasets
Watauga County, NC
200 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.5% rated Good, 47% Fair, 9.5% Poor.
- 200
- Public bridges
- 43.5%
- Good condition
- 9.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Watauga County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 77th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 9.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 200
- public highway bridges
- 1984
- 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.
Watauga County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Watauga County ranks #77 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Watauga County, North Carolina contains 200 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.5% are rated “Good,” 47% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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.
Good condition
43.5%
87 of 200 rated 7-9
Fair condition
47%
94 of 200 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9.5%
19 of 200 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#77 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 200 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 43.5% (87)
Fair 47% (94)
Poor 9.5% (19)
Watauga County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,910 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,364 crossings a day against 2,395 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 200 of 200 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
41% of Watauga County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
82 of the 200 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 43.5% 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 57.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
NC105 over WATAUGA RIVER, built 1955, carries 15,000 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 25,910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Watauga County's bridges were built
200 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
24 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
43 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
19 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
19 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
28 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
36 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Watauga County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Watauga County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplin County | 208 | 33.2% | 59.1% | 7.7% | 1988 |
| Wayne County | 208 | 43.8% | 51.9% | 4.3% | 1991 |
| Caldwell County | 201 | 35.8% | 55.7% | 8.5% | 1983 |
| Watauga County (this page) | 200 | 43.5% | 47% | 9.5% | 1984 |
| Sampson County | 196 | 50% | 46.9% | 3.1% | 1994 |
| Wilson County | 195 | 48.2% | 50.8% | 1% | 1985 |
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 Watauga 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 Watauga County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (200 bridges here).
- Escambia County, AL · 200 bridges
- Clay County, AR · 200 bridges
- Parke County, IN · 200 bridges
- Fayette County, KY · 200 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1984 here).
- Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
- Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
- El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
- Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (19)
SR1337
PoorOver: NORRIS FORK CREEK
.1 MI.W.JCT.SR1336, Watauga, NC
Built 1966 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 290
SR1134
PoorOver: DUTCH CREEK
1.8 MI.S.JCT.SR1158, Watauga, NC
Built 1990 Load: 8.1 t ADT: 500
SR1339
PoorOver: MEAT CAMP CREEK
10 FT.E.JCT.SR1335, Watauga, NC
Built 1959 Load: 10.8 t ADT: 250
SR1142
PoorOver: BRUSHY FORK CREEK
150 FT.W.JCT.US321 421, Watauga, NC
Built 1958 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 550
SR1594
PoorOver: WATAUGA RIVER
0.2 MI.S.JCT.NC105, Watauga, NC
Built 1965 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 350
SR1508
PoorOver: ELK CREEK
1 MI.S.JCT.SR1583, Watauga, NC
Built 1975 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 370
SR1227
PoorOver: NORTH FORK COVE CREEK
.2 MI.N.JCT.SR1233, Watauga, NC
Built 1962 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 100
SR1123
PoorOver: LAUREL CREEK
200 FT.N.JCT.SR1157, Watauga, NC
Built 1965 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 250
NC105
PoorOver: WATAUGA RIVER
50 FT.N.JCT.SR1112, Watauga, NC
Built 1955 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 15,000
SR1351
PoorOver: SOUTH FORK NEW RIVER
20 FT.W.JCT.SR1352, Watauga, NC
Built 1967 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 120
SR1362
PoorOver: UT TO STONY FORK CREEK
.2 MI.W.JCT.SR1361, Watauga, NC
Built 1965 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 60
SR1359
PoorOver: MEADOW CREEK
.4 MI.N.JCT.SR1367, Watauga, NC
Built 1974 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 950
SR1113
PoorOver: UPPER LAUREL FORK CREEK
200FT.W.JCT.SR1109, Watauga, NC
Built 1968 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 2,000
SR1508
PoorOver: ELK CREEK
0.5 MI.S.JCT.SR1583, Watauga, NC
Built 1974 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 370
SR1202
PoorOver: WATAUGA RIVER
.2 MI.N.JCT.SR1237, Watauga, NC
Built 1962 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 1,100
SR1306
PoorOver: SHARP CREEK
.1 MI.E.JCT.SR1233, Watauga, NC
Built 1995 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 800
SR1134
PoorOver: DUTCH CREEK
25 FT.N.JCT.SR1158, Watauga, NC
Built 1979 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 500
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY
PoorOver: U.S. ROUTE 421
15.0 MILES FROM NC ROUTE, Watauga, NC
Built 2001 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,300
BUCKEYE LAKE ROAD
PoorOver: BUCKEYE CREEK
.02 MI.W.PINNACLE RDG.RD., Watauga, NC
Built 1986 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 50
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.