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.

When Lawrence County's bridges were built

103 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

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

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 Poor
Magoffin County 107 2.8%
Warren County 106 3.8%
Livingston County 104 4.8%
Washington County 104 11.5%
Lawrence County (this page) 103 7.8%
Bullitt County 99 8.1%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Good-condition bridges (20)

LITTLE EAST FRK RD

Good

Over: LITTLE EAST FORK

0.36 MI SW JCT KY 1496, Lawrence, KY

Built 2016 Load: 27.8 t ADT: 90

MORGANS CREEK RD

Good

Over: MORGANS CREEK

2.0 MI SW JCT KY 3, Lawrence, KY

Built 1995 Load: 30.7 t ADT: 211

ACCESS ROAD

Good

Over: LAKE SPILLWAY

YATESVILLE LAKE, Lawrence, KY

Built 1988 Load: 33.3 t ADT: 125

COAL BRANCH RD

Good

Over: CAT FORK

.019 MI W. JCT KY 201, Lawrence, KY

Built 1998 Load: 33.5 t ADT: 40

KY-3

Good

Over: Rockcastle Creek

Clifford, Lawrence, KY

Built 1984 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 508

Needmore Road

Good

Over: Dry Fork

0.06 MI W of JCT KY 201, Lawrence, KY

Built 1993 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 40

LEFT FORK CAINS CR

Good

Over: RT FK CAINS CREEK

.1 MI. WEST- KY 3394, Lawrence, KY

Built 1993 Load: 36.8 t ADT: 100

MUDLICK BRANCH RD

Good

Over: E.FORK-L.SANDY RIVER

.1 MI E - KY 3, Lawrence, KY

Built 1991 Load: 39.4 t ADT: 50

QUARRY BRANCH RD

Good

Over: EAST FK-LITTLE SANDY RVR

.1 MI EAST- KY 3, Lawrence, KY

Built 1992 Load: 39.4 t ADT: 68

KY-707

Good

Over: Brushy Fork

0.50 MI S of JCT KY 1937, Lawrence, KY

Built 2001 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 72

KY-707

Good

Over: RT. FORK OF BEAR CREEK

.10 MI S OF JCT KY 1937, Lawrence, KY

Built 1953 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 72

KY-1690

Good

Over: NATS CREEK

1.0 MI S of JCT KY 645, Lawrence, KY

Built 1985 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 516

Little East Frk Rd

Good

Over: E Frk Little Sandy River

0.1 MI S of JCT KY 1496, Lawrence, KY

Built 2021 Load: 47.6 t ADT: 90

Mosley Branch Rd

Good

Over: Lower Laurel Creek

0.1 MI W of Left Fork, Lawrence, KY

Built 2012 Load: 51.1 t ADT: 20

Spankem Cat Fork

Good

Over: Cat Fork

0.05 MI S of JCT KY 3, Lawrence, KY

Built 2012 Load: 53.9 t ADT: 52

KY-707

Good

Over: NEWCOMB CREEK

. @ JCT KY 3399, Lawrence, KY

Built 1997 Load: 60.2 t ADT: 72

KG ESTATES RD

Good

Over: ROCKCASTLE CREEK

.034 MI W JCT KY-3, Lawrence, KY

Built 2015 Load: 62.2 t ADT: 50

WILBUR RD

Good

Over: BRUSHY CREEK

4.4 MI-SW JCT KY-32, Lawrence, KY

Built 2017 Load: 68.2 t ADT: 50

KY-1496

Good

Over: E Frk Little Sandy River

400 NW of JCT KY 3, Lawrence, KY

Built 1983 Load: 71.9 t ADT: 173

Mattie Rd

Good

Over: Rt Frk Little Blaine Crk

0.85 MI W of JCT KY 1760, Lawrence, KY

Built 2018 Load: 80.7 t ADT: 216

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

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.