County profile · official public datasets

Mason County, KY

97 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33% rated Good, 58.8% Fair, 8.2% Poor.

97
Public bridges: 33%
Good condition: 8.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Mason County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

77th
of 120 on Poor share: 8.2%
Poor-condition share: 97
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Mason County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mason County ranks #77 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.2%). Mason County, Kentucky contains 97 public highway bridges. Roughly 33% are rated “Good,” 58.8% “Fair,” and 8.2% “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 Mason County

Good condition

33%

32 of 97 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.8%

57 of 97 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.2%

8 of 97 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#77 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 97 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33% (32)

Fair

58.8% (57)

Poor

8.2% (8)

Mason County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,932 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 867 crossings a day against 1,049 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 97 of 97 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.1% of Mason County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 97 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 33% 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 73.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-62X over OHIO RIVER-MYVLLE- CSX R, built 1931, carries 5,104 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 6,932 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

4
1950s

9
1960s

8
1970s

12
1980s

12
1990s

21
2000s

9
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Mason County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mason County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bullitt County	99	10.1%	81.8%	8.1%	1980
Johnson County	99	27.3%	69.7%	3%	1983
Butler County	98	9.2%	81.6%	9.2%	1971
Mason County (this page)	97	33%	58.8%	8.2%	1980
Fulton County	95	26.3%	62.1%	11.6%	1965
Henry County	94	22.3%	64.9%	12.8%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (97 bridges here).

Forsyth County, GA · 97 bridges
Elmore County, ID · 97 bridges
Swift County, MN · 97 bridges
Madison County, MT · 97 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 97 Good 32 Fair 57 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (32)

Sort:

Mason County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mason County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,932 vehicle crossings a day

35.1% of Mason County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 73.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mason 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 (32)

KEY PIKE

FORMAN CHAPEL RD

FLAT FK RD CR-1206

OLD SARDIS PIKE

US-68

MINERVA TUCKAHOE R

CLARKS RUN RD

CR1321 LEE CREEK

HEBRON RD

NEPTON RD

KY-1234

KY-1449

Ky-9

KY-170

HILL CITY RD E

Clarks Run CS 1026

US-68 BYPASS

StockyardRd CR1109

Davis LN

OAK WOODS RD

TANGLETOWN RD

HillCityRd CS1200

US-62

KY 3056

US 68

KY-11

LOWELL RD

WEAVER RD. CR-1219

US 62

CLARKS RUN CR-1302

VALLEY PIKE

Key Pike

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