County profile · official public datasets

Harlan County, KY

252 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.8% rated Good, 58.3% Fair, 15.9% Poor.

252
Public bridges: 25.8%
Good condition: 15.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Harlan County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

119th
of 120 on Poor share: 15.9%
Poor-condition share: 252
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Harlan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Harlan County ranks #119 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.9%). Harlan County, Kentucky contains 252 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.8% are rated “Good,” 58.3% “Fair,” and 15.9% “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

252

Public highway bridges in Harlan County

Good condition

25.8%

65 of 252 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.3%

147 of 252 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.9%

40 of 252 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#119 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 252 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.8% (65)

Fair

58.3% (147)

Poor

15.9% (40)

Harlan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,494 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 512 crossings a day against 1,064 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 252 of 252 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.3% of Harlan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

89 of the 252 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 25.8% 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 14.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-72 over MARTINS FK CUMBERLAND RV, built 1970, carries 2,881 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 40-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 20,494 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

12
1940s

4
1950s

22
1960s

26
1970s

69
1980s

26
1990s

32
2000s

25
2010s

9
2020s

20

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 69 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Harlan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Harlan County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Daviess County	282	18.4%	75.9%	5.7%	1979
Harlan County (this page)	252	25.8%	58.3%	15.9%	1980
Hopkins County	251	10.4%	80.5%	9.2%	1967
Ohio County	227	8.4%	85%	6.6%	1970
Hardin County	223	47.1%	48.4%	4.5%	1982
Calloway County	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (252 bridges here).

Montgomery County, IN · 252 bridges
Morgan County, IN · 252 bridges
Oxford County, ME · 252 bridges
Colfax County, NE · 252 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 252 Good 65 Fair 147 Poor 40

Fair-condition bridges (147)

Sort:

Harlan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Harlan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,494 vehicle crossings a day

35.3% of Harlan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 14.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Harlan 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 (147)

KY1780

CR-1355

KY 1601

CR-1330

US-421

US-119

KY-987

GRIFFITH LN

CR-1248

KY-2424

KY-160

KENTUCKY AVE

US-119

KY-3449

US-119

KY-6257

KY-38

KY-38

KY-2009

KY-215

CLEM CT

GILBERTSVILLE RD

CR-1248

KY-840

CR-1128

MARY ALICE DR

US-119

KY-2009

MORRIS BOTTOM

CR-1041

CR-1111

KY-2425

KY-219

1083

US-421

KY-219

CR-1248 Walter St

CR-1100

Hogg Rd

CR-1118K

KY-2179

KY-38

US-119

US-119

BLUE LN

KY-219

CR-1099

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