County profile · official public datasets

Clay County, KY

160 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.9% rated Good, 63.8% Fair, 14.4% Poor.

160
Public bridges: 21.9%
Good condition: 14.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

115th
of 120 on Poor share: 14.4%
Poor-condition share: 160
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.

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clay County ranks #115 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.4%). Clay County, Kentucky contains 160 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.9% are rated “Good,” 63.8% “Fair,” and 14.4% “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

160

Public highway bridges in Clay County

Good condition

21.9%

35 of 160 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.8%

102 of 160 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.4%

23 of 160 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#115 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 160 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.9% (35)

Fair

63.8% (102)

Poor

14.4% (23)

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,942 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 258 crossings a day against 607 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 160 of 160 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.9% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 160 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 21.9% 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 20.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-421 over SPENCERS BRANCH, built 1936, carries 1,224 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 5,942 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

12
1940s

14
1950s

23
1960s

12
1970s

27
1980s

12
1990s

5
2000s

19
2010s

22
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.9% 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 Clay County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Clay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.4% 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 Clay County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Floyd County	161	24.8%	66.5%	8.7%	1979
Greenup County	161	51.6%	46.6%	1.9%	1992
Clay County (this page)	160	21.9%	63.8%	14.4%	1978
Madison County	154	29.2%	66.9%	3.9%	1977
Harrison County	153	38.6%	55.6%	5.9%	1981
Muhlenberg County	152	12.5%	82.9%	4.6%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (160 bridges here).

Kittson County, MN · 160 bridges
Rio Arriba County, NM · 160 bridges
Delaware County, OK · 160 bridges
Warren County, TN · 160 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 160 Good 35 Fair 102 Poor 23

Good-condition bridges (35)

Sort:

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,942 vehicle crossings a day

51.9% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clay 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 (35)

KY-66

KY-577

CR 1055

HR-9006

KY 873

KY-2000

KY-2432

COAL HOLLOW

CR1524

KY 687

DIXON BRANCH ROAD

CR-1298

Mill Creek Road

_CR-1113A

Erline Road

CR-1255

KY-2443

CRANE BRANCH ROAD

Otter Creek Road

NEWFOUND ROAD

CR 1371

Cr 1168

US-421

Hooker branch road

CR 1238

KY 577

Old Highway 66

CR1172B

CR 1055

BRAY CREEK ROAD

Curry Branch Road

KY 1850

CR 1056

CR1523

MCKINLEY BUSH RD

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