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.

Total bridges

163

Public highway bridges in Yancey County

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.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

6
1950s

23
1960s

26
1970s

30
1980s

19
1990s

11
2000s

4
2010s

39
2020s

3

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.

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

All 163 Good 59 Fair 77 Poor 27

Good-condition bridges (59)

Sort:

Yancey County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Yancey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,010 vehicle crossings a day

42.9% of Yancey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 17.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Yancey 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 (59)

US19E NBL

NFSR 472

US19E SR1427

US19E

SR1323

US19E

SR1330

SR1411

NC197

SR1395

SR1323

NON SYSTEM

SR1333

SR1100

NFSR 482

NFSR 239

NFSR 239

SR1411

SR1128

US19W

SR1124

SR1142

SR1395

SR1402

SR1209

SR1152

US19 SBL

SR1323

NC80

SR1124

SR1317

SR1317

US19 NBL

SR1121

SR1360

US19E SBL

SR1317

US19E

NC80

SR1355

SR1168

NC80

US19

NC80

SR1358

SR1158

SR1395

NC197

SR1323

US19E SBL

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