County profile · official public datasets

Laurel County, KY

131 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.1% rated Good, 73.3% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

131
Public bridges: 22.1%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 131
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Laurel County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Laurel County ranks #32 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Laurel County, Kentucky contains 131 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.1% are rated “Good,” 73.3% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

131

Public highway bridges in Laurel County

Good condition

22.1%

29 of 131 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73.3%

96 of 131 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

6 of 131 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 131 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

22.1% (29)

Fair

73.3% (96)

Poor

4.6% (6)

Laurel County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,416 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,069 crossings a day against 9,956 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 131 of 131 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.7% of Laurel County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 131 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 22.1% 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 79% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-25 over ROBINSON CREEK, built 1940, carries 14,548 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,416 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

4
1940s

8
1950s

14
1960s

18
1970s

30
1980s

5
1990s

17
2000s

15
2010s

5
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Laurel County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 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 Laurel County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Logan County	135	17.8%	78.5%	3.7%	1978
Knott County	134	35.8%	51.5%	12.7%	1981
Laurel County (this page)	131	22.1%	73.3%	4.6%	1976
Campbell County	130	33.1%	59.2%	7.7%	1979
Rowan County	130	34.6%	60.8%	4.6%	1981
Knox County	127	19.7%	72.4%	7.9%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (131 bridges here).

Columbia County, AR · 131 bridges
Franklin County, LA · 131 bridges
Wright County, MO · 131 bridges
Lincoln County, NM · 131 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 131 Good 29 Fair 96 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (29)

Sort:

Laurel County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Laurel County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,416 vehicle crossings a day

52.7% of Laurel County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Laurel 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

Good-condition bridges (29)

KY-1189

KY-3430

KY-80

I-75

KY-1956

KY 30

KY-586

KY-1803

KY-80

KY-80

KY-638

_US25

KY-578

I-75

I-75

I-75

LEVI JACKSON MILL

I-75

_578

KY 30

KY-1305

KY-1305

DogBranchSchoolRd

I-75

KY-312

KY-192

HR-9006

HR-9006

KY-1189

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