County profile · official public datasets

Jackson County, KY

51 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.5% rated Good, 64.7% Fair, 9.8% Poor.

51
Public bridges: 25.5%
Good condition: 9.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jackson 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.

93rd
of 120 on Poor share: 9.8%
Poor-condition share: 51
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jackson County ranks #93 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.8%). Jackson County, Kentucky contains 51 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.5% are rated “Good,” 64.7% “Fair,” and 9.8% “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

Public highway bridges in Jackson County

Good condition

25.5%

13 of 51 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.7%

33 of 51 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.8%

5 of 51 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#93 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 51 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.5% (13)

Fair

64.7% (33)

Poor

9.8% (5)

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,217 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 243 crossings a day against 1,243 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 51 of 51 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

30 of the 51 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 25.5% 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 51.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-3630 over BLACKWATER CREEK, built 1975, carries 632 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,217 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

2
1950s

11
1960s

6
1970s

6
1980s

3
1990s

7
2000s

3
2010s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 9 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Jackson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 13 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jackson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Larue County	54	55.6%	37%	7.4%	1981
Elliott County	53	11.3%	73.6%	15.1%	1977
Jackson County (this page)	51	25.5%	64.7%	9.8%	1969
Simpson County	50	36%	58%	6%	1991
Bracken County	49	30.6%	51%	18.4%	1983
Menifee County	49	34.7%	65.3%	0%	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 Jackson 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 Jackson County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (51 bridges here).

Arecibo County, PR · 51 bridges
Naguabo County, PR · 51 bridges
San Lorenzo County, PR · 51 bridges
Gregory County, SD · 51 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 51 Good 13 Fair 33 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (33)

Sort:

Jackson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jackson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,217 vehicle crossings a day

58.8% of Jackson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 51.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jackson 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 (33)

BIG BARN RD

US-421

KY-3630

KY-3630

KY-3630

KY-89

KY-290

KY-3444

KY-587

KY-89

KY-3630

KY-1955

KY-3630

MORRES CREEK SCHOO

MAULDEN-OWSLEY RD

KY-1071

US-421

BUFFALO BRANCH RD

MILDRED RD

HOOTEN BRANCH RD

LAKES CREEK RD

KY-2002

KY-290

KY-3630

PIGEON ROOST CONNE

KY-3630

KY-3630

KY-577

EVANS RD

CROOKED RD

J R THOMAS RD

KY-1709

KY-89

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