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.

Total bridges

200

Public highway bridges in Watauga County

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.

1920s

1
1940s

6
1950s

24
1960s

43
1970s

19
1980s

19
1990s

20
2000s

28
2010s

36
2020s

4

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Watauga County and the 5 North Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 200 Good 87 Fair 94 Poor 19

All bridges (200)

Sort:

Watauga County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Watauga County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,910 vehicle crossings a day

41% of Watauga County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Watauga 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 (200)

SR1306

WILSON DR.

NC194

NC194

STATE FARM ROAD

SR1182

NC194

SR1149

SR1217

SR1202

SR1131

SR1347

SR1112

SR1522

US221 421

SR1510

US221 321

US221 421

SR1126

SR1547

US321

SR1335

SR1201

US321 421

US321

SR1121

SR1225

US221 321

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

NC194

SR1526

US321

NC105

SR1232

SR1549

SR1201

SR1524

SR1136

SR1158

SR1321

SR1507

SR1323

SR1201

SR1132

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1395

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

SR1303

US221 US321

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