County profile · official public datasets

Calloway County, KY

210 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.7% rated Good, 62.4% Fair, 11% Poor.

210
Public bridges: 26.7%
Good condition: 11%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

100th
of 120 on Poor share: 11%
Poor-condition share: 210
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Calloway County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Calloway County ranks #100 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11%). Calloway County, Kentucky contains 210 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.7% are rated “Good,” 62.4% “Fair,” and 11% “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

210

Public highway bridges in Calloway County

Good condition

26.7%

56 of 210 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.4%

131 of 210 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11%

23 of 210 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#100 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 210 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.7% (56)

Fair

62.4% (131)

Poor

11% (23)

Calloway County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,825 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 732 crossings a day against 2,084 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 210 of 210 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.9% of Calloway County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 210 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 26.7% 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 35.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-121 over CLARKS R. S.OF MURRAY, built 1956, carries 5,929 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 16,825 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

14
1940s

7
1950s

32
1960s

20
1970s

33
1980s

28
1990s

26
2000s

28
2010s

8
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Calloway County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Calloway County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hardin County	223	47.1%	48.4%	4.5%	1982
Calloway County (this page)	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978
Marshall County	208	40.4%	54.8%	4.8%	1976
Bell County	205	15.6%	76.1%	8.3%	1977
McCracken County	201	43.3%	50.7%	6%	1979
Fayette County	200	22.5%	70%	7.5%	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 Calloway 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 Calloway County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (210 bridges here).

Fulton County, IL · 210 bridges
Clinton County, IN · 210 bridges
Howard County, IA · 210 bridges
Montgomery County, IA · 210 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 210 Good 56 Fair 131 Poor 23

Poor-condition bridges (23)

Sort:

Calloway County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Calloway County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,825 vehicle crossings a day

42.9% of Calloway County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Calloway 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

Poor-condition bridges (23)

SQUIRE HOLLAND RD

OLD SALEM RD

COLEMAN BRANCH RD.

GRUBBS RD

COOK STORE TRL

JACKSON RD

HOPKINS RD

REDBUD RD

KY-1836

OLD SHILOH RD

RAYBURN RD

CLAYTON TOWN RD.

HOWARD RD

KY-94

BEECHY RD

KY-464

WORKMAN RD

VAN CLEAVE RD

CHERRY CORNER RD

KY-121

KY-1836

KY-121

KY-80

Related