County profile · official public datasets

Lawrence County, KY

103 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.4% rated Good, 72.8% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

103
Public bridges: 19.4%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lawrence County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

71st
of 120 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 103
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lawrence County ranks #71 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Lawrence County, Kentucky contains 103 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.4% are rated “Good,” 72.8% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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

103

Public highway bridges in Lawrence County

Good condition

19.4%

20 of 103 rated 7-9

Fair condition

72.8%

75 of 103 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

8 of 103 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 103 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.4% (20)

Fair

72.8% (75)

Poor

7.8% (8)

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,352 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 544 crossings a day against 131 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 103 of 103 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.2% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 103 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 19.4% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ELOISE PREECE ST over LICK CREEK, built 1980, carries 1,300 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,352 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1950s

5
1960s

11
1970s

14
1980s

20
1990s

30
2000s

4
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 30 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 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 5 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Lawrence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lawrence County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Magoffin County	107	43.9%	53.3%	2.8%	1986
Warren County	106	18.9%	77.4%	3.8%	1984
Livingston County	104	30.8%	64.4%	4.8%	1974
Washington County	104	52.9%	35.6%	11.5%	1982
Lawrence County (this page)	103	19.4%	72.8%	7.8%	1983
Bullitt County	99	10.1%	81.8%	8.1%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (103 bridges here).

Kenai Peninsula County, AK · 103 bridges
Dallas County, AR · 103 bridges
Morgan County, GA · 103 bridges
Rawlins County, KS · 103 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 103 Good 20 Fair 75 Poor 8

All bridges (103)

Sort:

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,352 vehicle crossings a day

25.2% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lawrence 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 (103)

KY-644

Yatesville Rd

KY-3|KY-3S

KY-1690

MORGANS CREEK RD

STEELS BRANCH RD

KY-2037

Twin Licks Rd

KY-3398

BRUSHY CREEK RD

BRUSHY BRANCH RD

US-23

Needmore Road

US-23

LEFT FORK LAUREL R

Wheeler Branch Rd

BUFFALO BRANCH RD

KY-3399

KY-3

KY-3399

Old Terryville Rd

KY-32

KY-32

KY-3387

LEFT FORK LAUREL R

Left Frk Laurel Rd

Ross Branch Road

KY-32

ROCKHOUSE TRACE RD

KY-1690

STEEL BRANCH RD

WILBUR RD

Right Fork Laurel

US-23

KY-32

KY-32

KY-1690

KY-828

Southside Loop Rd

Rockhouse School R

Cherokee Rd

KY-3399

KY-3

Lick Creek Rd

US-23

KY-32

KY-469

KY-3

KY-1690

Elizabeth Ln

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