County profile · official public datasets

Marshall County, KY

208 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.4% rated Good, 54.8% Fair, 4.8% Poor.

208
Public bridges: 40.4%
Good condition: 4.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Marshall County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.8%
Poor-condition share: 208
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.

Marshall County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Marshall County ranks #35 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.8%). Marshall County, Kentucky contains 208 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.4% are rated “Good,” 54.8% “Fair,” and 4.8% “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

208

Public highway bridges in Marshall County

Good condition

40.4%

84 of 208 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.8%

114 of 208 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.8%

10 of 208 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#35 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 208 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.4% (84)

Fair

54.8% (114)

Poor

4.8% (10)

Marshall County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,350 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,335 crossings a day against 4,525 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 208 of 208 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.6% of Marshall County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

101 of the 208 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 40.4% 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 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-641 over FORK OF OLD BEE CREEK, built 1930, carries 4,292 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,350 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

9
1930s

15
1940s

8
1950s

21
1960s

33
1970s

37
1980s

16
1990s

25
2000s

20
2010s

19
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Marshall County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Marshall County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hardin County	223	47.1%	48.4%	4.5%	1982
Calloway County	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978
Marshall County (this page)	208	40.4%	54.8%	4.8%	1976
Bell County	205	15.6%	76.1%	8.3%	1977
McCracken County	201	43.3%	50.7%	6%	1979
Fayette County	200	22.5%	70%	7.5%	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 Marshall 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 Marshall County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (208 bridges here).

Muscogee County, GA · 208 bridges
Posey County, IN · 208 bridges
Caldwell County, MO · 208 bridges
Duplin County, NC · 208 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 208 Good 84 Fair 114 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (84)

Sort:

Marshall County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Marshall County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,350 vehicle crossings a day

48.6% of Marshall County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Marshall 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

Good-condition bridges (84)

CHESTER RD.

JC-9003

KY 1824

DOGTOWN RD

W 2ND AVE(CS-2086)

WALKER HARRIS RD

CONE DR. (CR1218)

I-24

US-641

KING CREEK ROAD

LITTLE CYPRESS RD

DOGTOWN RD

NEW HARMONY RD

U.S 68/80_

NEW HARMONY RD

US-68

U.S. 68/80

DUSTY TRL RD

VICTOR DARNELL RD.

US-68 W

HAPPY HOLLOW ROAD

MILLIKEN LANE

HALE SPRINGS ROAD

WALNUT GROVE ROAD

CYPRESS ROAD

KY-1422

US-641

US-641

JC-9003

KY-1523

KY-1364

KY-1364

KY-402

KY-1422

KY-1422

KY-1610

KY-1610

NOLES LANE

VILLAGE ROAD

KY-1462

OLD CALVERT CITY

I-24

U.S. 62

US-62

US-641

US-641

I-69 NB

KY-1949

I-69 NB Ramp

_KY-402

Related