County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, KY

117 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 13.7% rated Good, 75.2% Fair, 11.1% Poor.

117
Public bridges: 13.7%
Good condition: 11.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

101st
of 120 on Poor share: 11.1%
Poor-condition share: 117
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #101 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Franklin County, Kentucky contains 117 public highway bridges. Roughly 13.7% are rated “Good,” 75.2% “Fair,” and 11.1% “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

117

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

13.7%

16 of 117 rated 7-9

Fair condition

75.2%

88 of 117 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.1%

13 of 117 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#101 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 117 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

13.7% (16)

Fair

75.2% (88)

Poor

11.1% (13)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 59,116 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,547 crossings a day against 9,400 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 117 of 117 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

48 of the 117 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 13.7% 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 40.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-64 WB over KENTUCKY RIVER, built 1963, carries 24,081 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 59,116 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1930s

5
1940s

5
1950s

8
1960s

20
1970s

27
1980s

12
1990s

12
2000s

9
2010s

9
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Grayson County	119	39.5%	54.6%	5.9%	1972
Clark County	117	27.4%	60.7%	12%	1976
Fleming County	117	32.5%	62.4%	5.1%	1976
Franklin County (this page)	117	13.7%	75.2%	11.1%	1980
Caldwell County	116	12.1%	81%	6.9%	1972
Morgan County	114	50.9%	46.5%	2.6%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (117 bridges here).

Franklin County, GA · 117 bridges
Polk County, GA · 117 bridges
Benton County, MN · 117 bridges
Lake County, MT · 117 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 117 Good 16 Fair 88 Poor 13

All bridges (117)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 59,116 vehicle crossings a day

41% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (117)

KY 676 (E-W CONN)

FARMERS LN

BRIDGEPORT RD

PEA RIDGE RD

KY 1262

KY 368

KY 1262

FLAG FORK RD

LEBANON RD

KY 1689

KY 2821

KY 1262

KY 1472

US 460

KY 12

FLAG FORK RD

KY 1570

US 60

KY 1005

US 127 SB

I-64 EB

US 60

SWALLOWFIELD RD

KY 1211

US 60

I-64 WB

US 127 NB

US 127

KY 676 (E-W CONN)

DOVE CREEK RD

US 60

I-64 WB

I-64 EB

I-64 EB

STEELE BRANCH RD

KY 12

SWALLOWFIELD RD

KY 12

I-64 WB

US 127

GREGORY WOODS RD

KY 1005

I-64 WB

I-64 EB

TAYLOR BRANCH RD

SCHENKEL LN

US 421

S BENSON RD

US 60

HARVIELAND RD

Related