Total bridges
117
Public highway bridges in Franklin County
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.
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.
When Franklin County's bridges were built
117 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1930s 5
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
20 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
27 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
12 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
12 bridges
- 2000s 9
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s 9
2010–2019
9 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (16)
GREGORY WOODS RD
GoodOver: PLEASANT BRANCH
AT KY 1707, Franklin, KY
Built 2022 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 113
I-64
GoodOver: KY 1665
2.0 MI E OF KY 151, Franklin, KY
Built 2023 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 40,748
US 421
GoodOver: HUDSON CREEK
2.9 MI N OF KY 12, Franklin, KY
Built 2016 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 787
I-64 WB
GoodOver: S BENSON CREEK
1.4 MI E OF KY 151, Franklin, KY
Built 2023 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 20,374
I-64 EB
GoodOver: S BENSON CREEK
1.4 M E OF KY 151, Franklin, KY
Built 2023 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 20,374
US 421
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
0.5 MI N OF KY 12, Franklin, KY
Built 2017 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 787
KY 1689
GoodOver: TRIB TO N ELKHORN CREEK
0.3 MI W OF KY 1262, Franklin, KY
Built 2020 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 708
I-64
GoodOver: KY 2817
1.6 MI W OF US 127, Franklin, KY
Built 2023 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 40,748
DENISON WAY
GoodOver: S BENSON CREEK
0.2 MI W OF KY 1665, Franklin, KY
Built 2005 Load: 52.1 t ADT: 270
KY 420
GoodOver: CEDAR RUN
0.2 MI S OF KY 676, Franklin, KY
Built 2020 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 3,181
I-64 EB
GoodOver: KY 151
1.5 MI E OF SHELBY CL, Franklin, KY
Built 2023 Load: 53.8 t ADT: 20,374
CRAB ORCHARD RD
GoodOver: BENSON CREEK
200 FT N OF KY 151, Franklin, KY
Built 2019 Load: 59.3 t ADT: 69
HARVIELAND RD
GoodOver: DAVIS BRANCH
1.8 MI S OF KY 12, Franklin, KY
Built 2017 Load: 62.5 t ADT: 206
KY 1665
GoodOver: STONEY CREEK
0.1 MI S OF US 421, Franklin, KY
Built 2009 Load: 65.0 t ADT: 83
US 421
GoodOver: LITTLE FLAT CREEK
3.9 MI N OF KY 12, Franklin, KY
Built 2016 Load: 74.2 t ADT: 787
US 421
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
1.95 MI N OF KY 12, Franklin, KY
Built 2017 Load: 77.8 t ADT: 787
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.