County profile · official public datasets

Gallatin County, KY

55 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.8% rated Good, 74.5% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

55
Public bridges: 21.8%
Good condition: 3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gallatin County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.6%
Poor-condition share: 55
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Gallatin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gallatin County ranks #17 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Gallatin County, Kentucky contains 55 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.8% are rated “Good,” 74.5% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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 Gallatin County

Good condition

21.8%

12 of 55 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.5%

41 of 55 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

2 of 55 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#17 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 55 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.8% (12)

Fair

74.5% (41)

Poor

3.6% (2)

Gallatin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 33 crossings a day against 7,624 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 55 of 55 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60% of Gallatin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

33 of the 55 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 21.8% 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 75.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MUNK SPUR ROAD over BRANCH OF BIG SOUTH FORK, built 2010, carries 50 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 66 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

4
1950s

6
1960s

16
1970s

4
1980s

6
1990s

2
2000s

6
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 7 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Gallatin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gallatin County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Green County	57	59.6%	28.1%	12.3%	1979
Estill County	56	37.5%	51.8%	10.7%	1977
Owsley County	55	38.2%	58.2%	3.6%	1982
Gallatin County (this page)	55	21.8%	74.5%	3.6%	1971
Larue County	54	55.6%	37%	7.4%	1981
Owen County	54	18.5%	77.8%	3.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (55 bridges here).

Park County, CO · 55 bridges
Dixie County, FL · 55 bridges
Winnebago County, IA · 55 bridges
Logan County, KS · 55 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 55 Good 12 Fair 41 Poor 2

All bridges (55)

Sort:

Gallatin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gallatin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 66 vehicle crossings a day

60% of Gallatin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gallatin 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 (55)

KY-35

KY-1992

KY-1130

KY-184

KY-467

KY-455

WALNUT LICK RD

KY-1039

KY-2850

KY-562

KY-465

KY-1039

KY-16

US-127

US-127

US-42

KY-35

KY-1130

JERICHO RD

WALNUT LICK RD

US-42

KY-465

I-71

I-71

I-71

I-71

US-42

KY-1992

FURNISH RD

LITTLE SUGAR CREEK

US-42

KY 3002

I-71

I-71

KY-1039

KY-467

I-71

I-71

LITTLE SUGAR CREEK

US-42

US-42

KY-184

CR-1009

US-42

I-71

KY-35

KY-1039

KY-3002

US 42

KY-1039

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