County profile · official public datasets

Lyon County, KY

78 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.6% rated Good, 70.5% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

78
Public bridges: 25.6%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lyon County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 78
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Lyon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lyon County ranks #22 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Lyon County, Kentucky contains 78 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.6% are rated “Good,” 70.5% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

Public highway bridges in Lyon County

Good condition

25.6%

20 of 78 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70.5%

55 of 78 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

3 of 78 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 78 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.6% (20)

Fair

70.5% (55)

Poor

3.8% (3)

Lyon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 891 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 297 crossings a day against 2,623 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 78 of 78 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.5% of Lyon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

30 of the 78 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 25.6% 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 75.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-295 over LIVINGSTON CREEK, built 1938, carries 675 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 891 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

8
1940s

2
1950s

1
1960s

11
1970s

35
1980s

6
1990s

7
2000s

1
2010s

3
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 44.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Lyon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lyon County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Todd County	80	16.3%	76.3%	7.5%	1972
Grant County	79	55.7%	38%	6.3%	1988
Metcalfe County	78	10.3%	87.2%	2.6%	1975
Lyon County (this page)	78	25.6%	70.5%	3.8%	1972
Wolfe County	77	54.5%	41.6%	3.9%	1979
Wayne County	76	22.4%	61.8%	15.8%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (78 bridges here).

Winston County, AL · 78 bridges
Marion County, FL · 78 bridges
Bryan County, GA · 78 bridges
Macon County, GA · 78 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 78 Good 20 Fair 55 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (55)

Sort:

Lyon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lyon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 891 vehicle crossings a day

38.5% of Lyon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lyon 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

Fair-condition bridges (55)

JACK THOMASON ROAD

GRAY FARM ROAD

FRIENDSHIP RD.

KY-453

US-62

EDDY CREEK ROAD

KY-1943

I-24 NC

US-641

KY-295

KY-903

LADD ROAD

GREGORY ROAD

I-69

I-69 NC

KY-93

I-24

I-24

JENKINS ROAD

KY-93

US-641

US-641

I-24 NC

KY-6020

KY-6020

ELMO ROAD

HEATH ROAD

I-24 NC

I-24

I-24 NC

I-24

KY-93

KY-293

KY-93

KY-2611

KY-1113

WK-9001

I-24 NC

HOPEWELL ROAD

KY-93

US-62

KY-730

KY-274

WENDELL H FORD WES

WK-9001

KY-93

I-69 NC

I-69

I-24 NC

I-24

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