County profile · official public datasets

Hickman County, KY

123 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.9% rated Good, 60.2% Fair, 8.9% Poor.

123
Public bridges: 30.9%
Good condition: 8.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

85th
of 120 on Poor share: 8.9%
Poor-condition share: 123
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Hickman County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hickman County ranks #85 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.9%). Hickman County, Kentucky contains 123 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.9% are rated “Good,” 60.2% “Fair,” and 8.9% “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

123

Public highway bridges in Hickman County

Good condition

30.9%

38 of 123 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.2%

74 of 123 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.9%

11 of 123 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#85 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 123 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.9% (38)

Fair

60.2% (74)

Poor

8.9% (11)

Hickman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,844 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 349 crossings a day against 410 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 123 of 123 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.5% of Hickman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

67 of the 123 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 30.9% 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 44.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-51 over BRUSH CREEK, built 1926, carries 1,709 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,844 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

16
1940s

9
1950s

15
1960s

16
1970s

6
1980s

18
1990s

15
2000s

8
2010s

9
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 8 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Hickman County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hickman County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Knox County	127	19.7%	72.4%	7.9%	1979
Union County	127	21.3%	70.9%	7.9%	1972
Breathitt County	124	44.4%	48.4%	7.3%	1978
Hickman County (this page)	123	30.9%	60.2%	8.9%	1970
Grayson County	119	39.5%	54.6%	5.9%	1972
Clark County	117	27.4%	60.7%	12%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (123 bridges here).

Jackson County, GA · 123 bridges
Crawford County, IN · 123 bridges
Bladen County, NC · 123 bridges
New Hanover County, NC · 123 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 123 Good 38 Fair 74 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (74)

Sort:

Hickman County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hickman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,844 vehicle crossings a day

54.5% of Hickman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hickman 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 (74)

KY-1529

KY-1698

KY-58

KY-1731

ROSE ROAD

US-51

KY-703

DEWEESE ROAD

KY-1283

KY-1283

HICKMAN ROAD

HOWELL ROAD

KY-1529

DEWEESE ROAD

MOUNTJOY ROAD

KY 3061

KY-703

DEWEESE ROAD

KY-3061

KY-123

BLUMENBURG ROAD

COSBY RD.

KY-1283

JACKSON CHAPEL ROA

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