County profile · official public datasets

Carroll County, KY

68 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 13.2% rated Good, 75% Fair, 11.8% Poor.

68
Public bridges: 13.2%
Good condition: 11.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Carroll 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.

106th
of 120 on Poor share: 11.8%
Poor-condition share: 68
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Carroll County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carroll County ranks #106 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.8%). Carroll County, Kentucky contains 68 public highway bridges. Roughly 13.2% are rated “Good,” 75% “Fair,” and 11.8% “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 Carroll County

Good condition

13.2%

9 of 68 rated 7-9

Fair condition

75%

51 of 68 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.8%

8 of 68 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#106 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 68 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

13.2% (9)

Fair

75% (51)

Poor

11.8% (8)

Carroll County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,120 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,015 crossings a day against 2,307 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 68 of 68 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.7% of Carroll County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

44 of the 68 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 13.2% 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 63.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-71 over KY 1112 & WHITES RUN CRK, built 1967, carries 15,358 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 24,120 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

11
1950s

9
1960s

15
1970s

10
1980s

5
1990s

6
2000s

6
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 8 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Carroll County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Carroll County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hancock County	70	8.6%	88.6%	2.9%	1975
Martin County	70	28.6%	58.6%	12.9%	1985
Monroe County	70	15.7%	77.1%	7.1%	1965
Carroll County (this page)	68	13.2%	75%	11.8%	1970
Garrard County	67	25.4%	68.7%	6%	1980
Oldham County	66	7.6%	84.8%	7.6%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (68 bridges here).

Bent County, CO · 68 bridges
Columbia County, GA · 68 bridges
Talbot County, GA · 68 bridges
Wilcox County, GA · 68 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 68 Good 9 Fair 51 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (51)

Sort:

Carroll County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carroll County's Poor-condition bridges carry 24,120 vehicle crossings a day

64.7% of Carroll County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 63.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carroll 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

Fair-condition bridges (51)

KY-389

KY-1112

KY-1465

KY-1112

KY-1112

BUFFALO CREEK ROAD

KY-36

KY-227

US-42

I-71

BOONE ROAD

KY-36

KY-227

I-71

GHENT-EAGLE ROAD

WEST PRONG LOCUST

US-42

I-71

TOM TOWN ROAD

I-71

I-71

WRIGHTS RIDGE ROAD

KY-36

KY-1492

KY-389

VANCE ROAD

KY-2997

US-42

KY-36

KY-55

KY-2949

CARLISLE ROAD

FOUR MILE ROAD

KY-389

I-71

I-71

GEORGES CREEK ROAD

KY-467

KY-2997

BUFFALO CREEK ROAD

KY 389

KY-47

KY-55

BLACKROCK ROAD

I-71

I-71

I-71

KY-227

KY-389

KY-36

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