Total bridges
123
Public highway bridges in Hickman County
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.
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.
When Hickman County's bridges were built
123 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s 6
1970–1979
6 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
18 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
8 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
9 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (11)
BOCKMAN ROAD
PoorOver: POND BR OF CANE CRK
0.5 MI. SOUTH- KY 1529, Hickman, KY
Built 1983 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 11
JEFFERSON STREET
PoorOver: BR OF CANE CREEK
300 S OF DEPOT ST., Hickman, KY
Built 1940 Load: 10.9 t ADT: 545
WHITLOCK ROAD
PoorOver: BR-LITTLE CYPRESS CREEK
.35 MI. E OF KY 307, Hickman, KY
Built 1968 Load: 12.4 t ADT: 131
KY-3061
PoorOver: BR OF BRUSH CREEK (EAST)
.1M S OF KY 58, Hickman, KY
Built 1970 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 177
KY-123
PoorOver: LITTLE CYPRESS CREEK
.35 MI WEST OF JCT KY 307, Hickman, KY
Built 1980 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 257
US-51
PoorOver: BRUSH CREEK
.60 MI SOU. OF JCT KY 288, Hickman, KY
Built 1926 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 1,709
HUMPHREY ROAD
PoorOver: BRANCH SAND CREEK
0.5 MI E. KY 307, Hickman, KY
Built 1990 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 25
KY-307
PoorOver: NORTH FORK BAYOU DE CHIE
.30 MI SOU. OF JCT KY 944, Hickman, KY
Built 1937 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 703
LATTA ROAD
PoorOver: BR.S.FK.BAYOU DE CHIEN
0.5 MI E OF KY 94, Hickman, KY
Built 1989 Load: 37.8 t ADT: 25
REED ROAD
PoorOver: BR.S.FK.-BAYOU DE CHIEN
1.5 MI. E. JCT BROWNS RD, Hickman, KY
Built 1988 Load: 54.7 t ADT: 9
KY-288
PoorOver: UNNAME STREAM
.80 MI EAST OF JCT KY 136, Hickman, KY
Built 1937 Load: 55.5 t ADT: 252
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.