County profile · official public datasets

Hopkins County, KY

251 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 10.4% rated Good, 80.5% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

251
Public bridges: 10.4%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hopkins 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.

88th
of 120 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 251
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Hopkins County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hopkins County ranks #88 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Hopkins County, Kentucky contains 251 public highway bridges. Roughly 10.4% are rated “Good,” 80.5% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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

251

Public highway bridges in Hopkins County

Good condition

10.4%

26 of 251 rated 7-9

Fair condition

80.5%

202 of 251 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

23 of 251 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#88 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 251 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

10.4% (26)

Fair

80.5% (202)

Poor

9.2% (23)

Hopkins County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,985 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,043 crossings a day against 3,786 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 251 of 251 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.5% of Hopkins County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

162 of the 251 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 10.4% 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 64.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

EDWARD T BREATHITT over PENNYRILE PARKWAY, built 1968, carries 30,484 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 46,985 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

33
1940s

4
1950s

37
1960s

73
1970s

25
1980s

26
1990s

20
2000s

9
2010s

11
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 73 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 11 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Hopkins County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hopkins 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	252	25.8%	58.3%	15.9%	1980
Hopkins County (this page)	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 Hopkins 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 Hopkins County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (251 bridges here).

Greene County, AR · 251 bridges
Lake County, IL · 251 bridges
Wayne County, NE · 251 bridges
Fond du Lac County, WI · 251 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 251 Good 26 Fair 202 Poor 23

Fair-condition bridges (202)

Sort:

Hopkins County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hopkins County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,985 vehicle crossings a day

64.5% of Hopkins County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 64.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hopkins 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 (202)

HECLA RD

WK-9001

Western Kentucky P

KY-112

JERRY ARNOLD RD

OLD NORTONVILLE-WH

EDWARD T BREATHITT

EB-9004

KY-262

US-41A

WENDELL H FORD WES

WK-9001

RICHLAND-MANITOU R

KY-291

US-41A

BUTTERMILK RD

KY-291

CHURCH ST

US-41

US-41A

KY-70

PAUL PEYTON RD

CARBONDALE RD

CARBONDALE RD

EDWARD T BREATHITT

EB-9004

US-62

KY-2171

KY-1302

COPPER CREEK RD

MCGREW LN

NORTH SEBREE ST

CR1408 Antioch Ch

OLD MORGANFIELD RD

KY-1069

KY-112

BARNSLEY LOOP

RED HILL RD

GRAPEVINE ROAD

US-41

KY-2657

US-62

KY-1178

KY-1069

KY-109

KY-862

US-41

KY-2171

Northbound on Ramp

KY-85

Related