County profile · official public datasets

Barren County, KY

147 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 12.9% rated Good, 83.7% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

147
Public bridges: 12.9%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Barren County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 147
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Barren County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Barren County ranks #16 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Barren County, Kentucky contains 147 public highway bridges. Roughly 12.9% are rated “Good,” 83.7% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

147

Public highway bridges in Barren County

Good condition

12.9%

19 of 147 rated 7-9

Fair condition

83.7%

123 of 147 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

5 of 147 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 120

Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 147 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

12.9% (19)

Fair

83.7% (123)

Poor

3.4% (5)

Barren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,313 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,063 crossings a day against 5,568 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 147 of 147 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.2% of Barren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 147 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 12.9% 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 80.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WEST MAIN STREET over WATER STREET, built 1959, carries 4,284 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,313 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

15
1940s

1
1950s

14
1960s

13
1970s

46
1980s

10
1990s

15
2000s

11
2010s

14
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

How Barren County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Barren County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 119 Kentucky counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Barren County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Nelson County	151	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1974
Lewis County	149	28.9%	67.1%	4%	1982
Marion County	149	53%	39.6%	7.4%	1981
Whitley County	149	24.8%	69.1%	6%	1974
Barren County (this page)	147	12.9%	83.7%	3.4%	1974
Webster County	144	9%	80.6%	10.4%	1969

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 Barren 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 Barren County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (147 bridges here).

Avoyelles County, LA · 147 bridges
Marquette County, MI · 147 bridges
Carlton County, MN · 147 bridges
Wabasha County, MN · 147 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 147 Good 19 Fair 123 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (123)

Sort:

Barren County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Barren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,313 vehicle crossings a day

61.2% of Barren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Barren County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (123)

US-31E

MATTHEWS MILL RD

WHITES CHAPEL ROAD

SIDDENS RD

BRADSHAW RD

KY-252

BERRY STORE RD

KY-255

SLICK ROCK RD

TROJAN TRAIL

Glover Rd

WOODS STORE-ETOILE

KY-1324

KY-571

LOUIE B NUNN-CUMBE

LN-9008

KY-1307

US-31E

LECTA-SALEM RD

KY-839

KY 1307

KY-90

US-68

KY-90

KY-249

U.S. 31E

KY-63

US-68

KY-63

WILLIE GROCE RD

WILBORN RD

KY-740

KY-63

GREEN VALLEY RD.

I-65 SOUTH BOUND

Oil Well Road

KY-314

LOUIE B NUNN-CUMBE

LN-9008

LN-9008

D B SMITH RD

KY-249

C T TALLY RD

KY-90

US-31E

MOUNT PISGAH RD

KY-90

KY-1297

TROJAN TRL

KY-820

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