County profile · official public datasets

Fulton County, KY

95 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.3% rated Good, 62.1% Fair, 11.6% Poor.

95
Public bridges: 26.3%
Good condition: 11.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fulton 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.

104th
of 120 on Poor share: 11.6%
Poor-condition share: 95
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Fulton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fulton County ranks #104 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.6%). Fulton County, Kentucky contains 95 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.3% are rated “Good,” 62.1% “Fair,” and 11.6% “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 Fulton County

Good condition

26.3%

25 of 95 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.1%

59 of 95 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11.6%

11 of 95 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#104 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 95 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.3% (25)

Fair

62.1% (59)

Poor

11.6% (11)

Fulton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,414 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 674 crossings a day against 998 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 95 of 95 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.6% of Fulton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 95 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 26.3% 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 78.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-116 over HARRIS FORK CREEK, built 1934, carries 5,809 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,414 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

17
1940s

1
1950s

21
1960s

20
1970s

9
1980s

8
1990s

3
2000s

3
2010s

4
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 13 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Fulton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 13 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fulton County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Butler County	98	9.2%	81.6%	9.2%	1971
Mason County	97	33%	58.8%	8.2%	1980
Fulton County (this page)	95	26.3%	62.1%	11.6%	1965
Henry County	94	22.3%	64.9%	12.8%	1979
Pendleton County	94	34%	61.7%	4.3%	1977
Cumberland County	93	22.6%	72%	5.4%	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 Fulton 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 Fulton County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (95 bridges here).

Pike County, AR · 95 bridges
Camden County, GA · 95 bridges
Liberty County, GA · 95 bridges
Bertie County, NC · 95 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 95 Good 25 Fair 59 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (59)

Sort:

Fulton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fulton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,414 vehicle crossings a day

71.6% of Fulton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 78.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fulton 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 (59)

KY-1282

KY-1212

UPPER BOTTOM RD

Tom Kesterson Rd

ROPER SCHOOL RD

KY-1129

KY-116

KY-307

US-45

KY-116

KY-94

Banker Pl

KY-239

KY-1706

KY-1129

KY-781

KY-1129

US-51

KY-166

KY-125

KY-166

KY-311

KY-311

SECOND ST

US-45

RUSH CRK RD

KY-94

KY-307

KY-94

KY-94

KY-781

Commercial Street

KY-94

KY-116

KY-116

KY-166

KY-166

KY-166

KY-309

KY-309

KY-1099

KY-1125

KY-1127

KY-781

KY-924

JC-9003

JOE PARKER RD

STATE MAINTAINED R

PURCHASE PARKWAY

JC-9003

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