AAA Carolinas release their Top 20 worst bridges in North Carolina

An annual topic here on the blog is the 20 Worst Bridges in North Carolina produced by AAA Carolinas. The 2010 list was recently released and the bridge making the most headlines is the I-85 bridge over the Yadkin River that is steadily climbing towards the top of the list.

This year the Yadkin River bridge is ranked as the 6th worst bridge in the state compared to being ranked 8th one year ago.

The complete list of 20 is available here (via WFMY-TV).

The #1 least sufficient bridge in the state remains the I-40/Business 85 bridge over South Buffalo Creek near Greensboro. Most of the bridges on the list were built between 1950 and 1969. The two youngest bridges on the list -- a bridge carrying I-277 over Johnson Street and the SCLRR in Charlotte (#2 on the list) and the bridge that carries US 52 over SR 4315 in Winston-Salem (#14) -- were built in 1971.

The oldest bridge on the list was built in 1943. It carries US 17 Business over the New River in Jacksonville. The bridge is scheduled to be replaced this year.

Additional Stories:
Guilford County Bridge Tops AAA Substandard List ---WFMY-TV
I-85 bridge No. 6 on list of state's worst ---Salisbury Post
85/Yadkin River Bridge dubbed one of the state's worst ---WBTV-TV

Comments

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...

Old Wards Ferry Road

Old Wards Ferry Road is an approximately 3.6-mile portion of the original alignment of Wards Ferry Road located near the city of Sonora, California. As currently configured this older alignment begins at modern Wards Ferry Road near Curtis Creek and terminates in Sonora at Sanguinetti Road. The Olds Wards Ferry Road corridor is largely defined by the single lane 1914-era arch concrete bridge at Curtis Creek. Wards Ferry Road is one of the oldest road corridors in Tuolumne County having been set up as a ferry crossing by Joesph Ward during 1850. Wards Ferry Road was once the primary connecting highway between the communities of Big Oak Flat and Sonora. Wards Ferry Road is most well-known from the largely one-lane wide alignment through Murderer's Gulch where it crosses the Tuolumne River via heavily graffitied 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge. Pictured as the blog cover is the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge as it was during 1951. The 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge was built ...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog