County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, KY

154 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.2% rated Good, 66.9% Fair, 3.9% Poor.

154
Public bridges: 29.2%
Good condition: 3.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.9%
Poor-condition share: 154
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #23 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Madison County, Kentucky contains 154 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.2% are rated “Good,” 66.9% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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

154

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

29.2%

45 of 154 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.9%

103 of 154 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.9%

6 of 154 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 154 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.2% (45)

Fair

66.9% (103)

Poor

3.9% (6)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,049 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,342 crossings a day against 5,653 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 154 of 154 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.2% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

68 of the 154 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 29.2% 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 88.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-25 over CSX RAILROAD SPUR, built 1943, carries 17,806 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 20,049 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

12
1940s

14
1950s

15
1960s

19
1970s

15
1980s

10
1990s

27
2000s

23
2010s

10
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Madison County (this page)	154	29.2%	66.9%	3.9%	1977
Harrison County	153	38.6%	55.6%	5.9%	1981
Muhlenberg County	152	12.5%	82.9%	4.6%	1967
Nelson County	151	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1974
Lewis County	149	28.9%	67.1%	4%	1982
Marion County	149	53%	39.6%	7.4%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (154 bridges here).

Choctaw County, AL · 154 bridges
Arkansas County, AR · 154 bridges
Kootenai County, ID · 154 bridges
Elk County, KS · 154 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 154 Good 45 Fair 103 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (103)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20,049 vehicle crossings a day

44.2% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 88.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (103)

ROUTE 10

ROUTE 5-4

KY-594

SLATE LICK ROAD

KY. 388

US-421

KY-21

KY-977

KY-1986

KY-21

ROUTE 114

BROOKSTOWN ROAD

KY-52

US-421

KY-595

US-25

JIGG WATER ROAD

SHORT LINE PIKE

CURTIS PIKE

ROUTE 10

US-421

ROUTE 10

GOGGINS LANE

KY-388

ROUTE 10

SLATE LICK ROAD

KY-1156

SLATE LICK ROAD

KY-876

CURTIS PIKE

ROUTE 3

ROUTE 9

Route 3

US-25

MORAN SUMMIT ROAD

KY-52

GRAVEL LICK ROAD

WOLF GAP ROAD

CRUTCHER PIKE

KY-388

KY-595

ROUTE 1

OAKLEY WELLS

MENELAUS ROAD

I-75

KY-21

I-75

CRUTCHER PIKE

KY-52

KY-52

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