County profile · official public datasets

Carlisle County, KY

74 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.1% rated Good, 62.2% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

74
Public bridges: 35.1%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Carlisle County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 8%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 74
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.

Carlisle County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carlisle County ranks #10 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Carlisle County, Kentucky contains 74 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.1% are rated “Good,” 62.2% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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 Carlisle County

Good condition

35.1%

26 of 74 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.2%

46 of 74 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

2 of 74 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 74 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.1% (26)

Fair

62.2% (46)

Poor

2.7% (2)

Carlisle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 227 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 114 crossings a day against 593 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 74 of 74 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.6% of Carlisle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 74 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 35.1% 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 73.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-1203 over GRAY CREEK, built 1968, carries 167 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 227 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

13
1930s

2
1940s

3
1950s

11
1960s

6
1970s

2
1980s

14
1990s

5
2000s

7
2010s

7
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 5 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Carlisle County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Carlisle County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wolfe County	77	54.5%	41.6%	3.9%	1979
Wayne County	76	22.4%	61.8%	15.8%	1978
McLean County	75	8%	81.3%	10.7%	1963
Mercer County	75	32%	61.3%	6.7%	1982
Montgomery County	74	23%	66.2%	10.8%	1978
Carlisle County (this page)	74	35.1%	62.2%	2.7%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (74 bridges here).

Clinch County, GA · 74 bridges
Decatur County, GA · 74 bridges
Hart County, GA · 74 bridges
Wright County, MN · 74 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 74 Good 26 Fair 46 Poor 2

All bridges (74)

Sort:

Carlisle County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carlisle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 227 vehicle crossings a day

48.6% of Carlisle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 73.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carlisle 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 (74)

BEULAH-MILBURN ROA

LOWER BOTTOM ROAD

KY-1203

KY-307

JIM YATES ROAD

KINDELL ROAD

KY-80

MAGEE SPRINGS ROAD

US-51

IDA IRELAND ROAD

US-62

US-51

KY-80

KINDELL ROAD

KY-307

US-51

US-51

US-62

JENNINGS (1202)

KY-307

KY-1371

US-62

KY-1371

HALSTEAD RD.

US-62

US-51

US-62

US-62

US-62

US-62

KY-121

KY-1022

KY-1377

KY-1377

KY-877

KY-1935

KY-80

KY-121

KY-877

KY-123

E.JENNINGS(CR-1235

KY-307

KY-121

BERKLEY-FISH LAKE

US-51

IDA IRELAND ROAD

KY-1372

JENNINGS ST.

HARRISON ROAD

MAYFIELD CHURCH RD

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