County profile · official public datasets

Breckinridge County, KY

91 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.4% rated Good, 54.9% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

91
Public bridges: 37.4%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

69th
of 120 on Poor share: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 91
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Breckinridge County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Breckinridge County ranks #69 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Breckinridge County, Kentucky contains 91 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.4% are rated “Good,” 54.9% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Breckinridge County

Good condition

37.4%

34 of 91 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.9%

50 of 91 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

7 of 91 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#69 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 91 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.4% (34)

Fair

54.9% (50)

Poor

7.7% (7)

Breckinridge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,550 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 364 crossings a day against 825 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 91 of 91 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.9% of Breckinridge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 91 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 37.4% 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 56.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-79 over LONG LICK CREEK, built 1960, carries 1,440 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,550 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

1
1940s

10
1950s

18
1960s

15
1970s

8
1980s

5
1990s

10
2000s

10
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 5 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Breckinridge County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Breckinridge County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cumberland County	93	22.6%	72%	5.4%	1981
Taylor County	92	55.4%	42.4%	2.2%	1984
Breckinridge County (this page)	91	37.4%	54.9%	7.7%	1973
Bath County	89	29.2%	66.3%	4.5%	1974
Boyd County	89	29.2%	61.8%	9%	1982
Boyle County	89	20.2%	76.4%	3.4%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (91 bridges here).

Baxter County, AR · 91 bridges
Reynolds County, MO · 91 bridges
Dawes County, NE · 91 bridges
Keith County, NE · 91 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 91 Good 34 Fair 50 Poor 7

All bridges (91)

Sort:

Breckinridge County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Breckinridge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,550 vehicle crossings a day

54.9% of Breckinridge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Breckinridge 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 (91)

TULES CREEK RD

KY-690

HARDIN MILLS ROAD

KY-629

Dutschke Mill Rd

MOOK-CENTERVIEW RD

SHOT POUCH CREEK R

KY-144

Glen Dean-McQuady

GLEN DEAN-FALLS OF

MCCOY-ROFF RD

JACK MONARCH RD

Old Railroad Rd.

KY-690

POLK LN

KY-79

KY-1740

FINLEY-DOWELL RD

KY-105

KY-86

KY-105

MOOK-CENTERVIEW RD

Old Railroad Rd.

KY-79

OLD RAILRD ROAD

KY-3199

MOOK-CENTERVIEW RD

KY-261

KY-259

KY-1401

KY-110

KY-629

KY-144

KY-259

OLD RAILROAD RD

Rosetta-Dents B Rd

KY-992

Glen Dean-McQuady

KY-992

Rosetta-Dents Br

MOOK-CENTERVIEW RD

Rosetta-Dents Brid

KY-690

TAR SPRINGS RD

KY-86

Falls of Rough Rd

KY-261

Falls of Rough Spu

OLD RAILRD ROAD

KY-261

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