County profile · official public datasets

Daviess County, KY

282 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.4% rated Good, 75.9% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

282
Public bridges: 18.4%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 35%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 282
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Daviess County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Daviess County ranks #42 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Daviess County, Kentucky contains 282 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.4% are rated “Good,” 75.9% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

282

Public highway bridges in Daviess County

Good condition

18.4%

52 of 282 rated 7-9

Fair condition

75.9%

214 of 282 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

16 of 282 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 282 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.4% (52)

Fair

75.9% (214)

Poor

5.7% (16)

Daviess County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,842 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,240 crossings a day against 3,921 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 281 of 282 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44% of Daviess County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 282 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 18.4% 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 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LEWISPORT RD over ACCESS SPUR TO OMU PLANT, built 1965, carries 6,722 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 19,842 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

11
1940s

8
1950s

19
1960s

24
1970s

76
1980s

46
1990s

38
2000s

25
2010s

28
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Daviess County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 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 Daviess 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	300	23.7%	72.3%	4%	1981
Daviess County (this page)	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 Daviess 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 Daviess County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (282 bridges here).

Acadia County, LA · 282 bridges
New Madrid County, MO · 282 bridges
Bastrop County, TX · 282 bridges
Forrest County, MS · 283 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 282 Good 52 Fair 214 Poor 16

Fair-condition bridges (214)

Sort:

Daviess County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Daviess County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,842 vehicle crossings a day

44% of Daviess County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Daviess 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 (214)

WILLIAM H NATCHER

I 165

WILLIAM H NATCHER

I 165

POPLAR LOG BRIDGE

US-231

KY-1554

CR-1244

KY-279

NEW HARTFORD RD NC

KY-2155

KY-2830

AU-9005

AU-9005

KY-279

LEWISPORT RD

US-231

WN-9007

WN-9007

MILLERS MILL RD

HORRELL RD

OWENSBORO BYP

WN-9007

Old KY 81

US231

US-231

KY-764

WINDY HILL RD

WINDY HILL RD

KY-554

LEWISPORT RD

LOWER RIVER RD

LYDANNE BRIDGE RD

US-231

US-231

US-60

KY-54

US-231

US-231

KY-764

KY-56

MULLIGAN RD

KY-144

KY-144

HAYNES STATION RD

GREENBRIAR RD

CR1215 Veach Rd.

KY-1554

BOTELER RD

OLD KY 54

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