County profile · official public datasets

Edmonson County, KY

39 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 12.8% rated Good, 74.4% Fair, 12.8% Poor.

39
Public bridges: 12.8%
Good condition: 12.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Edmonson 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.

111th
of 120 on Poor share: 12.8%
Poor-condition share: 39
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Edmonson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Edmonson County ranks #111 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.8%). Edmonson County, Kentucky contains 39 public highway bridges. Roughly 12.8% are rated “Good,” 74.4% “Fair,” and 12.8% “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 Edmonson County

Good condition

12.8%

5 of 39 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.4%

29 of 39 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.8%

5 of 39 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#111 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 39 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

12.8% (5)

Fair

74.4% (29)

Poor

12.8% (5)

Edmonson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,557 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 311 crossings a day against 2,522 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 39 of 39 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.8% of Edmonson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

21 of the 39 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 12.8% 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 88.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-70 over BEAR CREEK, built 1933, carries 1,376 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,557 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

10
1940s

4
1950s

4
1960s

2
1970s

1
1980s

2
1990s

8
2000s

6
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 9 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Edmonson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Edmonson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Russell County	46	21.7%	69.6%	8.7%	1974
Trimble County	44	11.4%	79.5%	9.1%	1985
Lee County	42	35.7%	57.1%	7.1%	1977
Clinton County	41	17.1%	75.6%	7.3%	1971
McCreary County	39	20.5%	64.1%	15.4%	1980
Edmonson County (this page)	39	12.8%	74.4%	12.8%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (39 bridges here).

Costilla County, CO · 39 bridges
Ouray County, CO · 39 bridges
Missaukee County, MI · 39 bridges
Perquimans County, NC · 39 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 39 Good 5 Fair 29 Poor 5

All bridges (39)

Sort:

Edmonson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Edmonson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,557 vehicle crossings a day

53.8% of Edmonson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 88.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Edmonson 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

All bridges (39)

KY-238

KY-238

KY-1075

KY-187

KY-70

GRASSLAND-BLACKGOL

KY-70

KY-1749

RENFRO-RAY ROAD

KY-187

OAK HILL ROAD

B-VILLE_OAK GROVE

KY-3021

KY-3019

KY-70

KY-185

KY-185

KY-185

KY-185

KY-185

KY-655

KY-728

KY 238

KY-3019

KY-2330

KY-743

KY-422

KY-259

KY-259

KY-1339

KY 259

Ky-743

KY-101

KY-238

WILLIE WEBB ROAD

V Sanders Road

CEDAR GROVE CH. RD

KY-238

KY-70

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