County profile · official public datasets

Kenton County, KY

142 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.4% rated Good, 52.8% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

142
Public bridges: 39.4%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kenton County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

70th
of 120 on Poor share: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 142
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Kenton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kenton County ranks #70 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Kenton County, Kentucky contains 142 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.4% are rated “Good,” 52.8% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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

142

Public highway bridges in Kenton County

Good condition

39.4%

56 of 142 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.8%

75 of 142 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

11 of 142 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#70 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 142 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.4% (56)

Fair

52.8% (75)

Poor

7.7% (11)

Kenton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,512 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,956 crossings a day against 30,300 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 142 of 142 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.2% of Kenton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

77 of the 142 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 39.4% 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 26.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

4TH STREET over LICKING RIVER, built 1936, carries 11,608 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 43,512 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

3
1950s

5
1960s

17
1970s

54
1980s

8
1990s

23
2000s

16
2010s

7
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Kenton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kenton County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Barren County	147	12.9%	83.7%	3.4%	1974
Webster County	144	9%	80.6%	10.4%	1969
Adair County	143	17.5%	74.8%	7.7%	1975
Casey County	143	14.7%	77.6%	7.7%	1976
Kenton County (this page)	142	39.4%	52.8%	7.7%	1978
Boone County	138	40.6%	55.1%	4.3%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (142 bridges here).

Monroe County, AL · 142 bridges
Henderson County, IL · 142 bridges
Graham County, KS · 142 bridges
Freeborn County, MN · 142 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 142 Good 56 Fair 75 Poor 11

All bridges (142)

Sort:

Kenton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kenton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 43,512 vehicle crossings a day

54.2% of Kenton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kenton 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

All bridges (142)

Pelly RD

MADISON PIKE NC

MADISON PIKE NC

MADISON ROAD

GLENHURST DR

OLD TAYLOR MILL RD

I-75 RAMP

KY 1072

I-75 RAMP

RICHARDSON ROAD

KY-2045

WEST 19TH STREET

HOGREFFE RD

TAYLOR MILL ROAD

EADS RD

MADISON ROAD

DIXIE HIGHWAY

I-75 RAMP

MADISON ROAD/MADIS

I-275 EB

I-75 NC

I-75

KY-3035

I-75 NC

I-75

I-75 NC

I-75

KY-17

RICHARD KNOCK HWY

I-275

KY 1303

ALEXANDER RD

WEST 15TH STREET

ERNEST BRIDGE DR

KY 17

MENEFEE RD

KLETTE RD/OLD DECO

4TH STREET

GARVEY AVENUE

US25/US42/US127

CRUISE CREEK RD

HARTMAN RD

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