County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, KY

662 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 10.7% rated Good, 82% Fair, 7.3% Poor.

662
Public bridges
10.7%
Good condition
7.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state
7.3%
Poor-condition share
662
public highway bridges
1979
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #58 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Jefferson County, Kentucky contains 662 public highway bridges. Roughly 10.7% are rated “Good,” 82% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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

662

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

10.7%

71 of 662 rated 7-9

Fair condition

82%

543 of 662 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.3%

48 of 662 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#58 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 662 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
10.7% (71)
Fair
82% (543)
Poor
7.3% (48)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,547,742 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 32,245 crossings a day against 35,928 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 659 of 662 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.4% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

281 of the 662 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 10.7% 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 10.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-65 over STANDIFORD LN, built 1988, carries 159,448 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 48-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,547,742 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Jefferson County's bridges were built

662 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 151 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Jefferson County (this page) 662 7.3%
Graves County 380 9.5%
Pike County 331 13.6%
Christian County 300 4%
Daviess County 282 5.7%
Harlan County 252 15.9%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (662 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1979 here).

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

All 662 Good 71 Fair 543 Poor 48

Good-condition bridges (71)

I-65 NB ON RAMP

Good

Over: E LIBERTY ST

NB ENT RMP-LIBERTY TO I65, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 84,001

GILLILAND RD

Good

Over: I-64

0.9 MI S OF US 60, Jefferson, KY

Built 2010 Load: 51.6 t ADT: 1,130

I-264

Good

Over: MID FORK BEARGRASS CREEK

0.45 MI W OF US 60, Jefferson, KY

Built 1994 Load: 52.3 t ADT: 118,000

I-64 EB RAMP

Good

Over: I-64 EB & RAMPS

0.32 MI E OF KENNEDY BR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 53.1 t ADT: 144,000

STONESTREET RD

Good

Over: POND CREEK

0.85 MI S OF KY 907, Jefferson, KY

Built 2003 Load: 54.1 t ADT: 16,078

I-64 WB RAMP

Good

Over: I-64 WB

0.1 MI W OF KENNEDY BR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 2,063

S WATTERSON TRL

Good

Over: FERN CREEK

0.7 MI S OF KY 150, Jefferson, KY

Built 2021 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 4,334

GRADE LN

Good

Over: NORTHERN DITCH

300 FT S OF CRITTENDEN DR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2020 Load: 56.1 t ADT: 12,681

OLD HEADY RD

Good

Over: DRAKES BRANCH

2.3 MI E OF KY 1531, Jefferson, KY

Built 2014 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 100

GRADE LN CONNECTOR

Good

Over: I-65

0.8 MI N OF KY 1747, Jefferson, KY

Built 2007 Load: 57.2 t ADT: 100

I-64

Good

Over: KY 1531

3.05 MI E OF I-265, Jefferson, KY

Built 2010 Load: 60.2 t ADT: 62,024

I-65 NB

Good

Over: I-64 WB & I-65 SB RAMPS

0.12 MI S OF LINCOLN BR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 60,500

LAGRANGE RD

Good

Over: UNNAMED STREAM

0.35 MI E OF LYNDON LN, Jefferson, KY

Built 2010 Load: 61.1 t ADT: 5,510

I-64 EB RAMP

Good

Over: I-65 NB RAMPS & WTHRSPN

0.22 MI E OF MAIN ST, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 10,500

I-65 SB & RAMP

Good

Over: E LIBERTY ST

0.85 MI S OF KENNEDY BR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 42,001

I-64

Good

Over: BECKLEY PKWY & FLOYDS FK

1.9 MI E OF I-265, Jefferson, KY

Built 2010 Load: 69.0 t ADT: 62,024

KY 2845

Good

Over: TRIB TO MCNEELY LAKE

0.4 MI E OF SMYRNA PKWY, Jefferson, KY

Built 1982 Load: 70.2 t ADT: 3,371

I-65 & RAMPS

Good

Over: KY 61 NB (JACKSON ST)

0.7 MI S OF KENNEDY BR, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 73.9 t ADT: 84,001

OLD NEW CUT ACCESS

Good

Over: BIG BEE LICK CREEK

100 FT N OLD NEW CUT RD, Jefferson, KY

Built 2018 Load: 78.7 t ADT: 10

US 60A

Good

Over: S FORK BEARGRASS CREEK

0.2 MI E OF KY 864, Jefferson, KY

Built 2018 Load: 85.5 t ADT: 18,422

I-71

Good

Over: FRANKFORT AVE

0.15 MI N OF I-64, Jefferson, KY

Built 2016 Load: 89.4 t ADT: 57,871

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.