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.

When Hardin County's bridges were built

223 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Ohio County 227 6.6%
Hardin County (this page) 223 4.5%
Calloway County 210 11%
Marshall County 208 4.8%
Bell County 205 8.3%
McCracken County 201 6%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (223)

KY-61

Good

Over: MIDDLE CREEK RELIEF

.24 MI FROM HARDIN-LARUE, Hardin, KY

Built 1985 Load: 64.6 t ADT: 6,087

KY-220

Good

Over: MARTINS BRANCH CREEK

.50 MI WEST OF JCT KY 920, Hardin, KY

Built 1935 Load: 66.4 t ADT: 80

KY 313

Good

Over: I-65 @ 102.52

KY 313 SB OVER I-65, Hardin, KY

Built 1995 Load: 68.3 t ADT: 4,190

KY-313

Good

Over: I-65 @ 102.52

KY 313 NB OVER I-65, Hardin, KY

Built 1995 Load: 68.3 t ADT: 4,190

KY-1882

Good

Over: SINK HOLE

.40 MI. EAST OF JCT 1600, Hardin, KY

Built 2005 Load: 71.4 t ADT: 1,409

JOE PRATHER HIGHWA

Good

Over: CSX RAILROAD

.3 MI E. JCT I-65, Hardin, KY

Built 1995 Load: 73.9 t ADT: 4,190

KY-313

Good

Over: CSX RAILROAD

.3 MI E. JCT I-65, Hardin, KY

Built 1995 Load: 73.9 t ADT: 4,190

US-31W

Good

Over: DRY BRANCH

NB EXIT RAMP @CHAFFEE AVE, Hardin, KY

Built 1973 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 19,027

7TH ARMORED DIV RD

Good

Over: MILL CREEK

1 KM E. OF S. BOUNDARY RD, Hardin, KY

Built 1994 Load: 90.4 t ADT: 80

Thomas Rd

Good

Over: Eggers Creek

1.7 Mi from Jct KY 1357, Hardin, KY

Built 2014 Load: 92.3 t ADT: 494

US-31W

Good

Over: FREEMAN CREEK

200 SE OF JCT KY 1357, Hardin, KY

Built 1987 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 16,176

KY 1357

Good

Over: Trib of Rhudes Creek

2.8 Mi E of Jct Ky 1375, Hardin, KY

Built 2018 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 2,048

I-65

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH

.40 MI SOU. OF US 62 NTRC, Hardin, KY

Built 1956 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 55,279

KY-86

Poor

Over: BLACK BRANCH

1 MI E OF JCT KY 1375, Hardin, KY

Built 1927 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 3,477

NEEDHAM RD

Poor

Over: LINDERS CREEK

2 MI. N. JCT. KY. 84, Hardin, KY

Built 1981 Load: 12.9 t ADT: 65

MIDDLE CRK RD

Poor

Over: NEELY BRANCH

3 MI SE OF JCT KY 567, Hardin, KY

Built 1974 Load: 13.1 t ADT: 244

PIERCE MILL RD

Poor

Over: DRAKES CREEK

2.5 MI N. OF JCT. KY 84, Hardin, KY

Built 1984 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 40

SOLWAY MEETING CRK

Poor

Over: MEETING CREEK

0.8 MI. S.-JCT KY. 347, Hardin, KY

Built 1983 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 119

KY-1407

Poor

Over: COX RUN

.70 MI WEST OF I-65 OP, Hardin, KY

Built 1953 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 221

MEETING CRK RD

Poor

Over: P&L RAILWAY

.2 MI NOR OF KY 1291, Hardin, KY

Built 1943 Load: 25.7 t ADT: 361

KY-86

Poor

Over: VERTRESS CREEK

2.5 MI WEST OF JCT KY 920, Hardin, KY

Built 1933 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 1,858

KY-583

Poor

Over: BLUEGRASS PARKWAY

2 MI SE OF JCT US 62, Hardin, KY

Built 1964 Load: 29.5 t ADT: 557

US-62

Poor

Over: SLOUGH OFF ROLLING FORK

.10 MI WEST OF NELSON CL, Hardin, KY

Built 1941 Load: 34.6 t ADT: 1,865

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.