County profile · official public datasets

Bourbon County, KY

112 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.8% rated Good, 78.6% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

112
Public bridges: 18.8%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bourbon County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 8%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 112
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.

Bourbon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bourbon County ranks #9 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Bourbon County, Kentucky contains 112 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.8% are rated “Good,” 78.6% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

112

Public highway bridges in Bourbon County

Good condition

18.8%

21 of 112 rated 7-9

Fair condition

78.6%

88 of 112 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

3 of 112 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#9 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 112 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.8% (21)

Fair

78.6% (88)

Poor

2.7% (3)

Bourbon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,917 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,972 crossings a day against 2,496 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 112 of 112 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.3% of Bourbon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

53 of the 112 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 18.8% 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 87.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-27 over TOWNSEND CREEK, built 1948, carries 5,187 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,917 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

11
1940s

6
1950s

18
1960s

13
1970s

10
1980s

15
1990s

21
2000s

7
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Bourbon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bourbon County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Caldwell County	116	12.1%	81%	6.9%	1972
Morgan County	114	50.9%	46.5%	2.6%	1981
Leslie County	112	28.6%	58%	13.4%	1980
Bourbon County (this page)	112	18.8%	78.6%	2.7%	1974
Powell County	110	39.1%	59.1%	1.8%	1975
Trigg County	109	39.4%	51.4%	9.2%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (112 bridges here).

Columbia County, FL · 112 bridges
Sumter County, FL · 112 bridges
Houston County, GA · 112 bridges
Tift County, GA · 112 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 112 Good 21 Fair 88 Poor 3

All bridges (112)

Sort:

Bourbon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bourbon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,917 vehicle crossings a day

47.3% of Bourbon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 87.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bourbon 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

All bridges (112)

PEACOCK ROAD

KY-57

KY-57

CS-1035 DUNCAN AVE

US-68C Access Road

CR-1109

ESCONDIDA ROAD

KY-3118

STEELE ROAD

WEST 2ND STREET

LILLESTON AVENUE

HOUSTON AVENUE

STEELE FORD ROAD

US-27

KY-537

KY-1198

OLDSON ROAD

JACKSTOWN ROAD

KY-1940

LITTLE ROCK-JACKST

KY-627

KY-627

KY-57

SILAS ROAD

KY-1678

KY-1939

KY-1893

KY-1940

CR-1107 (SEE RD)

KY-627

KY-627

PRETTY RUN ROAD

US 68X (E MAIN ST)

KY-1940

PEACOCK ROAD

SILAS ROAD

US-460

KY-2335

REDMON ROAD

KY-1939

PLUM LICK ROAD

KY 3364

KY 3364

US-27

SOPER ROAD

KY-353

KY-1939

TOWNSEND VALLEY RD

TOWNSEND VALLEY RD

TOWNSEND VALLEY RD

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