Total bridges
163
Public highway bridges in Yancey County
County profile · official public datasets
Yancey County, NC
163 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.2% rated Good, 47.2% Fair, 16.6% Poor.
- 163
- Public bridges
- 36.2%
- Good condition
- 16.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Yancey County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 94th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 16.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 163
- public highway bridges
- 1982
- 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.
Yancey County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Yancey County ranks #94 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.6%). Yancey County, North Carolina contains 163 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.2% are rated “Good,” 47.2% “Fair,” and 16.6% “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.
Good condition
36.2%
59 of 163 rated 7-9
Fair condition
47.2%
77 of 163 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.6%
27 of 163 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#94 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 163 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 36.2% (59)
Fair 47.2% (77)
Poor 16.6% (27)
Yancey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,010 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 519 crossings a day against 2,431 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 163 of 163 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
42.9% of Yancey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
70 of the 163 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 36.2% 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 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
NC197 over BOWLENS CREEK, built 1939, carries 2,500 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 14,010 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Yancey County's bridges were built
163 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
23 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
26 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
30 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
19 bridges
- 1990s 11
1990–1999
11 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
39 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Yancey County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Yancey County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 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.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yadkin County | 168 | 32.7% | 57.7% | 9.5% | 1986 |
| 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 (this page) | 163 | 36.2% | 47.2% | 16.6% | 1982 |
| Transylvania County | 162 | 40.7% | 45.7% | 13.6% | 1981 |
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 Yancey 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 Yancey County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (163 bridges here).
- Mercer County, IL · 163 bridges
- Jennings County, IN · 163 bridges
- Wayne County, IA · 163 bridges
- Jackson County, LA · 163 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1982 here).
- Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
- Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
- Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
- Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (77)
SR1358
FairOver: JACKS CREEK
.03 MI.S.JCT.SR1336, Yancey, NC
Built 1959 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 40
SR1444
FairOver: BIG CREEK
.05 MI.S.JCT.US19W, Yancey, NC
Built 1957 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 80
US19E SBL
FairOver: PRICE CREEK
.1 MI.N.JCT.SR1136, Yancey, NC
Built 1984 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 5,250
SR1335
FairOver: PIGPEN CREEK
.1 MI.S.JCT.SR1336, Yancey, NC
Built 2017 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 100
NC80
FairOver: CLEAR CREEK
.01 MI.S.JCT.SR1199, Yancey, NC
Built 1980 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 800
SR1147
FairOver: LITTLE CRABTREE CREEK
.01 MI.S.JCT.SR1186, Yancey, NC
Built 1968 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 420
US19W
FairOver: CANE RIVER
0.02 MI.S.JCT.SR1382, Yancey, NC
Built 1971 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 850
SR1146
FairOver: CANE BRANCH
.45 MI.S.JCT.US19E, Yancey, NC
Built 2017 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 630
SR1416
FairOver: MINE FORK CREEK
.05 MI.E.JCT.SR1336, Yancey, NC
Built 1996 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 1,100
SR1308
FairOver: LITTLE BRUSH CREEK
.01 MI.S.JCT.SR1317, Yancey, NC
Built 2012 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 550
NC80
FairOver: SOUTH TOE RIVER
.01 MI.N.JCT.US19E, Yancey, NC
Built 1980 Load: 46.2 t ADT: 950
SR1159
FairOver: ROCK CREEK
1.0 MI.S.JCT.SR1158, Yancey, NC
Built 1979 Load: 46.2 t ADT: 300
SR1114
FairOver: BAKER CREEK
.02 MI.E.JCT.SR1115, Yancey, NC
Built 1960 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 200
SR1317
FairOver: BRUSH CREEK
0.65M. S. JCT. SR1308, Yancey, NC
Built 2019 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 150
NC197
FairOver: CANE RIVER
.15 MI.S.JCT.SR1100, Yancey, NC
Built 1985 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 250
US19E SBL
FairOver: SOUTH TOE RIVER
0.3 MI. N.JCT.NC80, Yancey, NC
Built 2020 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 8,900
US19E NBL
FairOver: SOUTH TOE RIVER
0.3 MI. NORTH JCT. NC80, Yancey, NC
Built 2018 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 8,900
SR1395
FairOver: BALD MTN.CREEK
.05 MI.W.JCT.SR1407, Yancey, NC
Built 1994 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 490
SR1395
FairOver: JIM CREEK
.02 MI.E.JCT.SR1402, Yancey, NC
Built 1951 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 400
SR1338
FairOver: NORTH TOE RIVER
.03 MI.N.JCT.SR1342, Yancey, NC
Built 1998 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 420
SR1314
FairOver: NORTH TOE RIVER
3.8 MI.N.JCT.SR1308, Yancey, NC
Built 1986 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 100
NO DATA ENTERED
FairOver: CHERRY LOG CREEK
NO DATA ENTERED, Yancey, NC
Built 2010 Load: 62.5 t ADT: 50
SR1124
FairOver: INDIAN CREEK
.35 MI.S.JCT.SR1126, Yancey, NC
Built 1994 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 290
SR1146
FairOver: CANE BRANCH CREEK
.25 MI.S.JCT.SR1145, Yancey, NC
Built 1983 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 630
SR1355
FairOver: BAILEY BRANCH
1.55 MI.N.JCT.SR1336, Yancey, NC
Built 1989 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 180
SR1200
FairOver: LITTLE CRABTREE CREEK
.06 MI.S.JCT.US19E, Yancey, NC
Built 1983 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 70
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY
FairOver: NC ROUTE 80
13.2 MILES TO NC ROUTE 22, Yancey, NC
Built 1942 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 5,007
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.