Asheville News

Lots of ‘substandard’ bridges in McDowell, Buncombe

Jason Sandford March 10, 2008

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Seventy-one of McDowell County’s 224 bridges are substandard, according to a study released by AAA of the Carolinas. The figure means 31.7 percent of the county’s bridges, making McDowell 28th in the state’s 100 counties for substandard bridges.

Neighboring Buncombe County was No. 1, with 217 substandard bridges or 40 percent of the county’s bridges. Two Guilford County bridges in Greensboro and one bridge in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, rank as North Carolina’s worst bridges, according to AAA Carolinas.

In Rutherford County, 37.5 percent of bridges – 116 of them – are substandard. In Burke, 103 bridges, or 43.8 percent, are classified as substandard.

The bridges are included in an annual ranking of the state’s top 20 substandard bridges, compiled by AAA Carolinas. The analysis found the number of 2007 state substandard bridges, 5,602 out of 18,042, slightly higher than last year’s 5,501 out of 17,971, but state repair and maintenance funding remained stagnant.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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2 Comments

Dad March 11, 2008

The infrastructure is brittle including buildings, highways, plumbing, water lines, you name it.

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Take the Cake March 11, 2008

I can tell you this, from my observations of living in buncombe county since the day of my birth, we will argue for a prettier bridge and a greener bridge and a bridge with fewer lanes and we will argue this for YEARS, but I highly doubt we will argue for a safer bridge.Why is that?

Who makes our county’s bridge decisions?
Who has been in power for duration of however old our dilapidated bridges are?

Let’s not vote those same type folks in again!

Let’s vote for someone who will spend our hard earned tax money WISELY!

Excellent reporting as usual Ashe!

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