County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, KY

136 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 13.2% rated Good, 83.8% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

136
Public bridges: 13.2%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lincoln County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 136
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #13 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Lincoln County, Kentucky contains 136 public highway bridges. Roughly 13.2% are rated “Good,” 83.8% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

136

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

13.2%

18 of 136 rated 7-9

Fair condition

83.8%

114 of 136 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

4 of 136 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 136 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

13.2% (18)

Fair

83.8% (114)

Poor

2.9% (4)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,165 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 541 crossings a day against 2,198 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 136 of 136 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.4% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 136 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 13.2% 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 62.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-78 over NS (CNO&TP) SYSTEM, built 1963, carries 1,360 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,165 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

6
1930s

15
1940s

2
1950s

18
1960s

8
1970s

16
1980s

10
1990s

36
2000s

18
2010s

5
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 1st-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 Lincoln County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Boone County	138	40.6%	55.1%	4.3%	1981
Shelby County	137	10.2%	81.8%	8%	1982
Lincoln County (this page)	136	13.2%	83.8%	2.9%	1976
Logan County	135	17.8%	78.5%	3.7%	1978
Knott County	134	35.8%	51.5%	12.7%	1981
Laurel County	131	22.1%	73.3%	4.6%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (136 bridges here).

Bullock County, AL · 136 bridges
Jackson County, AR · 136 bridges
Perry County, IL · 136 bridges
Morehouse County, LA · 136 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 136 Good 18 Fair 114 Poor 4

All bridges (136)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,165 vehicle crossings a day

40.4% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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 (136)

Black Pike Road

Preachersville RD

Hatcher Road

NEALS CREEK RD

PINE GROVE RD

HARMONS LICK RD

RUBE BROWN RD

GOSHEN RD

GOSHEN RD

SHORT PIKE

CEMETERY RD

OLD LIBERTY PIKE

CLEAR FORK RD

TUNNEL CREEK RD

US-27

US-27

KY-1781

KY-78

KY-643

KY-1247

BEGLEY RD

US-127

TRUSTY RD

Harris Creek Road

Phillips Lane

KY-2750

KY 3177

KY-198

GREASY RIDGE RD

KY-300

KY-1194

MOORES LN

KY-300

IKE SINGLETON RD

KY-78

KY-78

PINE GROVE RD

CECIL SMITH RD

N Fishing Creek RD

KY-78

KY-328

OLD US 127 N LOOP

KY-39

KY-39

MOCCASIN RD

TRUSTY RD

LAMB BLACK RD

ESTER SPUR

NORTH FISHING CREE

KY-1778

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