County profile · official public datasets

Grayson County, KY

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.5% rated Good, 54.6% Fair, 5.9% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 39.5%
Good condition: 5.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Grayson County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.9%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Grayson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Grayson County ranks #45 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Grayson County, Kentucky contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.5% are rated “Good,” 54.6% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Grayson County

Good condition

39.5%

47 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.6%

65 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.9%

7 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.5% (47)

Fair

54.6% (65)

Poor

5.9% (7)

Grayson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,697 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 814 crossings a day against 956 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.1% of Grayson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 119 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 39.5% 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 31.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-79 over ROUGH RIVER LAKE, built 1960, carries 1,801 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,697 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

7
1930s

8
1940s

9
1950s

17
1960s

23
1970s

7
1980s

7
1990s

12
2000s

12
2010s

12
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Grayson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Grayson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hickman County	123	30.9%	60.2%	8.9%	1970
Grayson County (this page)	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	117	13.7%	75.2%	11.1%	1980
Caldwell County	116	12.1%	81%	6.9%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Ionia County, MI · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 119 Good 47 Fair 65 Poor 7

All bridges (119)

Sort:

Grayson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Grayson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,697 vehicle crossings a day

57.1% of Grayson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Grayson 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 (119)

FARRIS COATS RD

US-62

BEAR CREEK RD

DOG CREEK RD

KY-1214

Beaver Dam Cr Rd.

PINE KNOB RD

MCDONALD RD

KY-1214

US-62

KY-736

Beaver Dam Cr Rd.

KY-720

US-62

US-62

KY-88

KY-54

KY-1356

KY-79

KY-878

WENDELL H. FORD WE

WK-9001

KY-54

KY-54

US-62

Sadler Lane

KY-259

KIPER RD

WENDELL H. FORD WE

US-62

KY-187

KY-185

KY-185

KY-79

KY-79

KY-1214

Sinks Rd.

KY-54

KY-54

KY-479

KY-79

KY-1133

KY-736

US-62

KY-878

KY-259

WK-9001

KY-736

KY-88

Sunbeam Rd.

Related