Total bridges
205
Public highway bridges in Bell County
County profile · official public datasets
Bell County, KY
205 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 15.6% rated Good, 76.1% Fair, 8.3% Poor.
- 205
- Public bridges
- 15.6%
- Good condition
- 8.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Bell County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 78th
- of 120 on Poor share
- 8.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 205
- public highway bridges
- 1977
- 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.
Bell County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bell County ranks #78 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Bell County, Kentucky contains 205 public highway bridges. Roughly 15.6% are rated “Good,” 76.1% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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
15.6%
32 of 205 rated 7-9
Fair condition
76.1%
156 of 205 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.3%
17 of 205 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#78 of 120
Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 205 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 15.6% (32)
Fair 76.1% (156)
Poor 8.3% (17)
Bell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 31,222 vehicle crossings a day
That is 10.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,837 crossings a day against 511 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 205 of 205 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
36.6% of Bell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
75 of the 205 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 15.6% 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 60.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US-25E over LITTLE YELLOW CREEK, built 1989, carries 18,996 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 31,222 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Bell County's bridges were built
205 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1930s 14
1930–1939
14 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
28 bridges
- 1960s 13
1960–1969
13 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
26 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
56 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
40 bridges
- 2000s 5
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Kentucky average (1978).
How Bell County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Bell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 119 Kentucky counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calloway County | 210 | 26.7% | 62.4% | 11% | 1978 |
| Marshall County | 208 | 40.4% | 54.8% | 4.8% | 1976 |
| Bell County (this page) | 205 | 15.6% | 76.1% | 8.3% | 1977 |
| McCracken County | 201 | 43.3% | 50.7% | 6% | 1979 |
| Fayette County | 200 | 22.5% | 70% | 7.5% | 1980 |
| Carter County | 189 | 21.2% | 72.5% | 6.3% | 1974 |
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 Bell 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 Bell County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside KY (205 bridges here).
- Geneva County, AL · 205 bridges
- Russell County, AL · 205 bridges
- Wilson County, KS · 205 bridges
- Carroll County, MD · 205 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1977 here).
- San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
- King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
- Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
- Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (205)
KY-3484
PoorOver: LAUREL FORK CREEK
2.8 MI S+E OF JCT KY 190, Bell, KY
Built 1977 Load: 33.7 t ADT: 99
US-25E
PoorOver: LITTLE YELLOW CREEK
0.1 MI S JCT KY 74, Bell, KY
Built 1989 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 18,996
CS-2349
PoorOver: YELLOW CREEK
200N.JCT. KY 74 & 221, Bell, KY
Built 1985 Load: 44.1 t ADT: 35
KY-190
PoorOver: CLEAR CREEK
8.0 MI SW OF JCT KY 1491, Bell, KY
Built 1978 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 645
19TH STREET
PoorOver: YELLOW CREEK
.10 MI NOR. OF JCT KY 74, Bell, KY
Built 1943 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 4,568
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.