County profile · official public datasets

Butler County, KY

98 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 9.2% rated Good, 81.6% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

98
Public bridges: 9.2%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Butler 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.

90th
of 120 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 98
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #90 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Butler County, Kentucky contains 98 public highway bridges. Roughly 9.2% are rated “Good,” 81.6% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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 Butler County

Good condition

9.2%

9 of 98 rated 7-9

Fair condition

81.6%

80 of 98 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

9 of 98 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#90 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 98 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

9.2% (9)

Fair

81.6% (80)

Poor

9.2% (9)

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,475 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 386 crossings a day against 1,171 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 98 of 98 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.2% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

61 of the 98 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 9.2% 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 58.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-231 over W FK INDIAN CAMP CREEK, built 1940, carries 2,036 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 3,475 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

10
1940s

5
1950s

16
1960s

9
1970s

22
1980s

8
1990s

14
2000s

4
2010s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 7 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Butler County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bullitt County	99	10.1%	81.8%	8.1%	1980
Johnson County	99	27.3%	69.7%	3%	1983
Butler County (this page)	98	9.2%	81.6%	9.2%	1971
Mason County	97	33%	58.8%	8.2%	1980
Fulton County	95	26.3%	62.1%	11.6%	1965
Henry County	94	22.3%	64.9%	12.8%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (98 bridges here).

Boone County, AR · 98 bridges
Van Buren County, AR · 98 bridges
Dougherty County, GA · 98 bridges
Koochiching County, MN · 98 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 98 Good 9 Fair 80 Poor 9

All bridges (98)

Sort:

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,475 vehicle crossings a day

62.2% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Butler 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 (98)

JAKE FARRIS RD

MARTIN-BAULCUMB RD

GRANCER RD

BROOKLYN CHAPEL UN

KY-340

KY-1435

KY-1153

KY-403

KY-626

KY-1117

KY-79

KY-106

KY-269

KY-1153

US-231

US-231

KY-3182

I-165

DIMPLE-SUGAR GROVE

KY-1038

BROOKLYN-GRANCER

KY-949

US-231

KY-106

KY-2267

COOL SPRINGS RD

KY-1328

KY-403

KY-70

KY-106

I-165

I-165

KY-1083

McKendree Chapel

US-231

KY-1117

CARSON BRIDGE RD

KY-949

KY-70

KY-185

KY-79

KY-70

I 165

I-165

KY-403

KY-79

SHILOH-CANE RIDGE

KY-79

KY-79

KY-70

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