County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, KY

200 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.5% rated Good, 70% Fair, 7.5% Poor.

200
Public bridges: 22.5%
Good condition: 7.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

63rd
of 120 on Poor share: 7.5%
Poor-condition share: 200
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #63 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.5%). Fayette County, Kentucky contains 200 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.5% are rated “Good,” 70% “Fair,” and 7.5% “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

200

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

22.5%

45 of 200 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70%

140 of 200 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.5%

15 of 200 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 200 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

22.5% (45)

Fair

70% (140)

Poor

7.5% (15)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 184,531 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 12,302 crossings a day against 15,185 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 200 of 200 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

92 of the 200 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 22.5% 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 48.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

S 75 NC over I 64, built 1964, carries 90,324 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 184,531 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

4
1950s

15
1960s

56
1970s

20
1980s

28
1990s

28
2000s

17
2010s

21
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Calloway County	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978
Marshall County	208	40.4%	54.8%	4.8%	1976
Bell County	205	15.6%	76.1%	8.3%	1977
McCracken County	201	43.3%	50.7%	6%	1979
Fayette County (this page)	200	22.5%	70%	7.5%	1980
Carter County	189	21.2%	72.5%	6.3%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (200 bridges here).

Escambia County, AL · 200 bridges
Clay County, AR · 200 bridges
Parke County, IN · 200 bridges
Eaton County, MI · 200 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 200 Good 45 Fair 140 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (140)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 184,531 vehicle crossings a day

46% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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 (140)

NEW CIRCLE ROAD

I-64

KY-1973

FROGTOWN LN

RUSSELL CAVE PIKE

W NEW CIRCLE RD OL

NEW CIRCLE ROAD-IL

US-421

WINCHESTER ROAD

KY 57

I-75

US-60

NB 75

N 75 RAMP

KY-1973

HUME RD

US-60

KY-1973

HENRY CLAY BLVD

WINCHESTER ROAD

LEESTOWN ROAD

MANCH ST/KY1681

RICE ROAD

US-60

OLD U.S. 68

LAFAYETTE PKY

MONTAVESTA RD

EASTLAND PARKWAY

S MARTIN LUTHER KI

N BROADWAY NC

KY-4

US 25

GENTRY RD

Ironworks Pkwy

S 75 NC

S I-75 NC

N I-75

I-75

US-421

OLD FRANKFORT PIKE

I-75

CITATION BLVD

US-25

MAN OWAR BOULEVAR

S 75 NC

I-75

CITATION BLVD

KY-1973

I- 75

I-75

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