County profile · official public datasets

Henderson County, KY

184 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 8.2% rated Good, 87% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

184
Public bridges: 8.2%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 184
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Henderson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Henderson County ranks #38 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Henderson County, Kentucky contains 184 public highway bridges. Roughly 8.2% are rated “Good,” 87% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

184

Public highway bridges in Henderson County

Good condition

8.2%

15 of 184 rated 7-9

Fair condition

87%

160 of 184 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

9 of 184 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 184 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

8.2% (15)

Fair

87% (160)

Poor

4.9% (9)

Henderson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,986 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,554 crossings a day against 3,844 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 184 of 184 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.5% of Henderson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 184 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 8.2% 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 41.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MADISONVILLE ROAD over BR CANOE CRK, built 1948, carries 5,807 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,986 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

6
1940s

8
1950s

15
1960s

37
1970s

32
1980s

27
1990s

23
2000s

12
2010s

18
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Henderson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Henderson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carter County	189	21.2%	72.5%	6.3%	1974
Henderson County (this page)	184	8.2%	87%	4.9%	1978
Scott County	183	28.4%	61.7%	9.8%	1985
Pulaski County	182	19.8%	74.7%	5.5%	1980
Letcher County	179	36.3%	52.5%	11.2%	1981
Perry County	176	42%	53.4%	4.5%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (184 bridges here).

Independence County, AR · 184 bridges
Mills County, IA · 184 bridges
Adams County, OH · 184 bridges
Box Elder County, UT · 184 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 184 Good 15 Fair 160 Poor 9

All bridges (184)

Sort:

Henderson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Henderson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,986 vehicle crossings a day

49.5% of Henderson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Henderson 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 (184)

TOY ANTHOSTON RD

SPOTTSVILLE-BLUFF

OLD MADISONVILLE R

CR-1131

US-60

TOM SMITH RD

Sandy L Watkins Rd

CR 1222

CAIRO-LILES RD

KY-443

KY-425

CR1154 Robards Bu

CR-1162

AUDUBON PKY NC

AU-9005

HATCHETT MILL RD

ED OTEY RD

KY-812

NORTH TRIGG-HOOPER

MADISON STREET

SECOND STREET

ADAMS LANE #1

CR 1113

AU-9005

KY-416

EDWARD T BREATHITT

EB-9004

KY-811

CR1157

5TH ST

EDWARD T BREATHITT

EB-9004

JONES BROS. RD

KY-2248

KY-136

KINGS MILL RD

US-41 CONNECTOR

US-41

CR 1317

BLUFF CITY-NEWMAN

Sulphur Springs Rd

SOUTH PLEASANT VAL

GRIFFIN & GRIFFIN

KY-812

Cairo-Hickory Gr

KY-425

KY-425

ROBERTS RD

KY-2677

CR1162 Busby Sta.

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