County profile · official public datasets

Bracken County, KY

49 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.6% rated Good, 51% Fair, 18.4% Poor.

49
Public bridges: 30.6%
Good condition: 18.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bracken County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

120th
of 120 on Poor share: 18.4%
Poor-condition share: 49
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Bracken County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bracken County ranks #120 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 18.4%). Bracken County, Kentucky contains 49 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.6% are rated “Good,” 51% “Fair,” and 18.4% “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

Public highway bridges in Bracken County

Good condition

30.6%

15 of 49 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51%

25 of 49 rated 5-6

Poor condition

18.4%

9 of 49 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#120 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 49 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.6% (15)

Fair

51% (25)

Poor

18.4% (9)

Bracken County's Poor-condition bridges carry 833 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 18.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 93 crossings a day against 443 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 49 of 49 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.8% of Bracken County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

20 of the 49 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 30.6% 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 31.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-1159 over LOCUST CREEK @ WOOLCOTT, built 1955, carries 264 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 833 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1950s

5
1960s

7
1970s

9
1980s

8
1990s

8
2000s

4
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 9 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 5 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Bracken County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 18.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bracken County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Elliott County	53	11.3%	73.6%	15.1%	1977
Jackson County	51	25.5%	64.7%	9.8%	1969
Simpson County	50	36%	58%	6%	1991
Menifee County	49	34.7%	65.3%	0%	1976
Bracken County (this page)	49	30.6%	51%	18.4%	1983
Russell County	46	21.7%	69.6%	8.7%	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 Bracken 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 Bracken County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (49 bridges here).

Mono County, CA · 49 bridges
Yuma County, CO · 49 bridges
Calhoun County, FL · 49 bridges
Crawford County, GA · 49 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 49 Good 15 Fair 25 Poor 9

All bridges (49)

Sort:

Bracken County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bracken County's Poor-condition bridges carry 833 vehicle crossings a day

40.8% of Bracken County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bracken 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 (49)

WRANGLING RUN RD

KY-8

KY-539

KY-1951

HOLTS CRK RD

VERMILLION PK

KY-8

HILLSDALE RD

RILEY MILL RD

TALLNER RD

AUGUSTA-BERLIN RD

KY-9

KY-8

KY-19

CANNON ROAD

KY-8

HALEY RDG RD

HILLSDALE RD.

WRANGLING RUN RD

KY-875

KY-1011

LOCKMEIR RD

PARINA PK

KY-19

KY-8

Mattox RD CR 1210

WALTON PK

KY 435

THOMPSON RDG

KY-1951

KY-1159

SNAG CRK RD

CR -1104 PARINA PK

KY-8

JETT RD

KY-9

LONG STRETCH ROAD

KY-539

KY 1951

Fronks Ln(CR-1003)

KY-1951

KY-539

KY-1011

HAMILTON RD

WAGEL RD

KY-539

KY-1159

UNION CHAPEL RD

OAKLAND RD

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