County profile · official public datasets

Crittenden County, KY

89 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.2% rated Good, 51.7% Fair, 10.1% Poor.

89
Public bridges: 38.2%
Good condition: 10.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Crittenden 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.

95th
of 120 on Poor share: 10.1%
Poor-condition share: 89
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Crittenden County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Crittenden County ranks #95 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.1%). Crittenden County, Kentucky contains 89 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.2% are rated “Good,” 51.7% “Fair,” and 10.1% “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 Crittenden County

Good condition

38.2%

34 of 89 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.7%

46 of 89 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.1%

9 of 89 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#95 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 89 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.2% (34)

Fair

51.7% (46)

Poor

10.1% (9)

Crittenden County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,506 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 167 crossings a day against 644 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 89 of 89 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.1% of Crittenden County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 89 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 38.2% 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 29.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-120 over SLOUGH OF TRADEWATER RIV, built 1955, carries 443 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,506 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

5
1940s

3
1950s

20
1960s

12
1970s

13
1980s

14
1990s

12
2000s

3
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Crittenden County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Crittenden County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Breckinridge County	91	37.4%	54.9%	7.7%	1973
Bath County	89	29.2%	66.3%	4.5%	1974
Boyd County	89	29.2%	61.8%	9%	1982
Boyle County	89	20.2%	76.4%	3.4%	1978
Crittenden County (this page)	89	38.2%	51.7%	10.1%	1972
Allen County	88	15.9%	78.4%	5.7%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (89 bridges here).

Menard County, IL · 89 bridges
Wabash County, IL · 89 bridges
Noble County, IN · 89 bridges
Jackson County, SD · 89 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 89 Good 34 Fair 46 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (46)

Sort:

Crittenden County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Crittenden County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,506 vehicle crossings a day

55.1% of Crittenden County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Crittenden 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 (46)

NUNN SWITCH RD

KY-902

FORDS FERRY(CR1342

CHAPEL HILL RD

JACKSON SCHOOL RD

MEXICO RD

KY-506

KY-855

REITERS VIEW ROAD

KY-135

KY-70

KY-120

KY-91

BLACKBURN CHURCH R

KY-135

BLACKFORD CHURCH R

MAIN LAKE ROAD

KY-120

KY-506

LEVIAS RD

KY-120

KY-902

US-60

KY-135

KY-838

KY-723

WHITES RD. CR-1048

KY-654

COPPERAS SPRINGS R

KY-838

NUNN SWITCH RD

BAKER HOLLOW RD

US-60

LONG BRANCH RD

FORDS FERRY RD

KY-91

KY-1077

WESTON RD

BLACKBURN CHURCH R

SUGAR GROVE CHURCH

KY-70

BLACKFORD CHURCH R

CALDWELL SPRINGS

FISHTRAP RD

COPPERAS SPRINGS R

US-60

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