County profile · official public datasets

Boyd County, KY

89 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.2% rated Good, 61.8% Fair, 9% Poor.

89
Public bridges: 29.2%
Good condition: 9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Boyd County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

86th
of 120 on Poor share: 9%
Poor-condition share: 89
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Boyd County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Boyd County ranks #86 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9%). Boyd County, Kentucky contains 89 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.2% are rated “Good,” 61.8% “Fair,” and 9% “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

Public highway bridges in Boyd County

Good condition

29.2%

26 of 89 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.8%

55 of 89 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8 of 89 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#86 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 89 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.2% (26)

Fair

61.8% (55)

Poor

9% (8)

Boyd County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,333 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,667 crossings a day against 2,487 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 89 of 89 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.6% of Boyd County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 89 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 29.2% 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 87.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-60 over CSX RAILROAD, built 1951, carries 11,713 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,333 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

5
1940s

1
1950s

2
1960s

12
1970s

9
1980s

9
1990s

15
2000s

22
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Boyd County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Boyd County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Breckinridge County	91	37.4%	54.9%	7.7%	1973
Bath County	89	29.2%	66.3%	4.5%	1974
Boyle County	89	20.2%	76.4%	3.4%	1978
Crittenden County	89	38.2%	51.7%	10.1%	1972
Boyd County (this page)	89	29.2%	61.8%	9%	1982
Allen County	88	15.9%	78.4%	5.7%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (89 bridges here).

Menard County, IL · 89 bridges
Wabash County, IL · 89 bridges
Noble County, IN · 89 bridges
Jackson County, SD · 89 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 89 Good 26 Fair 55 Poor 8

All bridges (89)

Sort:

Boyd County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Boyd County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,333 vehicle crossings a day

32.6% of Boyd County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 87.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Boyd 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 (89)

S BIG RUN RD

MIDDLETOWN AVE.

US-60

US-60

US-23S

35TH STREET

US-23S

KY-3

KY-3291

N BIG RUN RD

CR-1339D

KY-3

I-64

WALNUT ST / WINCHE

KY-5

INTERSTATE 64 NC

US 23

STRAIGHT CREEK

CR-1048A

STRAIGHT CRK

KY-2537

US-60

KY-3

KY-5

KY-5

KY-3293

INTERSTATE 64 NC

I-64

INDUSTRIAL PARKWAY

CR-1057

KY-1937

KY 3294

INTERSTATE 64 NC

I-64

KY-3

NEW BUCKLEY RD

WINSLOW-SUMMIT ROA

US-23

I-64 WEST

CR-1200

PAUL F PURVIS ROAD

US23 SB|Russell Rd

KY-966

I-64 WEST

US-23

ALLEY BR

KY-1937

KY-854

INTERSTATE 64 NC

I-64

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