County profile · official public datasets

Christian County, KY

300 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.7% rated Good, 72.3% Fair, 4% Poor.

300
Public bridges: 23.7%
Good condition: 4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Christian County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 4%
Poor-condition share: 300
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Christian County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Christian County ranks #25 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4%). Christian County, Kentucky contains 300 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.7% are rated “Good,” 72.3% “Fair,” and 4% “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

300

Public highway bridges in Christian County

Good condition

23.7%

71 of 300 rated 7-9

Fair condition

72.3%

217 of 300 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12 of 300 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 300 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.7% (71)

Fair

72.3% (217)

Poor

4% (12)

Christian County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,007 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,417 crossings a day against 3,855 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 297 of 300 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43% of Christian County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

129 of the 300 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 23.7% 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 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-68 over LITTLE RIVER, built 1936, carries 9,241 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 17,007 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

5
1930s

28
1940s

10
1950s

30
1960s

32
1970s

27
1980s

10
1990s

53
2000s

68
2010s

34
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Christian County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Christian County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pike County	331	26.9%	59.5%	13.6%	1984
Christian County (this page)	300	23.7%	72.3%	4%	1981
Daviess County	282	18.4%	75.9%	5.7%	1979
Harlan County	252	25.8%	58.3%	15.9%	1980
Hopkins County	251	10.4%	80.5%	9.2%	1967
Ohio County	227	8.4%	85%	6.6%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (300 bridges here).

DeKalb County, AL · 300 bridges
Washington County, MD · 300 bridges
Newton County, MO · 300 bridges
Dawson County, NE · 300 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 300 Good 71 Fair 217 Poor 12

Good-condition bridges (71)

Sort:

Christian County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Christian County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,007 vehicle crossings a day

43% of Christian County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Christian 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

Good-condition bridges (71)

US 68B

MACEDONIA-CROFTON

PW 9004 Breathitt

PW 9004 Breathitt

Edward Breathitt

Lovers Lane

Lovers Lane

J P CAMPBELL RD

Gilky Road

CR 1302

CS-1456

KY-272

Milbrooke Drive

PW 9004 Breathitt

Ramp D1 @ Lovers L

Marietta Drive

US-68

Walnut Street

Masonville-Beverly

9004

Ramp B1 9004

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