County profile · official public datasets

Hardin County, KY

223 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.1% rated Good, 48.4% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

223
Public bridges: 47.1%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hardin County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 24%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 223
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Hardin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hardin County ranks #29 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Hardin County, Kentucky contains 223 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.1% are rated “Good,” 48.4% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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

223

Public highway bridges in Hardin County

Good condition

47.1%

105 of 223 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.4%

108 of 223 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

10 of 223 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 223 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.1% (105)

Fair

48.4% (108)

Poor

4.5% (10)

Hardin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,807 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 881 crossings a day against 8,548 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 223 of 223 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.2% of Hardin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 223 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 47.1% 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 39.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-86 over BLACK BRANCH, built 1927, carries 3,477 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,807 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

6
1940s

13
1950s

22
1960s

22
1970s

25
1980s

48
1990s

25
2000s

14
2010s

41
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Hardin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hardin County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ohio County	227	8.4%	85%	6.6%	1970
Hardin County (this page)	223	47.1%	48.4%	4.5%	1982
Calloway County	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978
Marshall County	208	40.4%	54.8%	4.8%	1976
Bell County	205	15.6%	76.1%	8.3%	1977
McCracken County	201	43.3%	50.7%	6%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (223 bridges here).

Woodford County, IL · 223 bridges
Ford County, KS · 223 bridges
Stanton County, NE · 223 bridges
Macon County, NC · 223 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 223 Good 105 Fair 108 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (105)

Sort:

Hardin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hardin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,807 vehicle crossings a day

37.2% of Hardin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hardin 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

Good-condition bridges (105)

US 31W

Bluegrass Parkway

_Union Church RD

KY 1136

KY 84

I 65

I 65

KY 3005

KY-84

College Street

US-31WB

745TH TANK BTLN RD

KY 3005

KY 3005

I-65

Old Sonora Rd

US-62

KY 2800

Willmoth Way

KY 3005

KY 3005

KY 1136

KY 222

KY 1375

JOE PRATHER HIGHWA

Rock Creek Rd.

US-31WB

KY-920

BEWLEY HOLLOW RD

KY 313

U.S. 62

Miller Road

Wimp Lane

KY-3005

US-31W

KY 1407

US 62

KY-86

KY-144

KY-313

KY-313

KY-3005

KY-61

KY-220

KY 313

KY-313

KY-1882

JOE PRATHER HIGHWA

KY-313

US-31W

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