County profile · official public datasets

McCracken County, KY

201 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.3% rated Good, 50.7% Fair, 6% Poor.

201
Public bridges: 43.3%
Good condition: 6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 6%
Poor-condition share: 201
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

McCracken County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McCracken County ranks #46 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6%). McCracken County, Kentucky contains 201 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.3% are rated “Good,” 50.7% “Fair,” and 6% “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

201

Public highway bridges in McCracken County

Good condition

43.3%

87 of 201 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.7%

102 of 201 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12 of 201 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 201 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.3% (87)

Fair

50.7% (102)

Poor

6% (12)

McCracken County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,098 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,758 crossings a day against 4,900 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 201 of 201 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.3% of McCracken County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

79 of the 201 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 43.3% 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 80.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-60 over P&L RAILWAY, built 1937, carries 16,923 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 21,098 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

4
1940s

2
1950s

26
1960s

15
1970s

49
1980s

21
1990s

33
2000s

26
2010s

11
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 49 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest McCracken County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 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 McCracken County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Calloway County	210	26.7%	62.4%	11%	1978
Marshall County	208	40.4%	54.8%	4.8%	1976
Bell County	205	15.6%	76.1%	8.3%	1977
McCracken County (this page)	201	43.3%	50.7%	6%	1979
Fayette County	200	22.5%	70%	7.5%	1980
Carter County	189	21.2%	72.5%	6.3%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (201 bridges here).

Williamson County, IL · 201 bridges
Hancock County, IN · 201 bridges
Pocahontas County, IA · 201 bridges
De Soto County, LA · 201 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 201 Good 87 Fair 102 Poor 12

All bridges (201)

Sort:

McCracken County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

McCracken County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,098 vehicle crossings a day

39.3% of McCracken County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How McCracken 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 (201)

SOUTH 28TH ST

US-45

KY-358

US-62

KY-348

KY-994

KY-3520

KY-3520

KY-3520

KY-305(Cairo Road)

NEW HOPE CHURCH RD

WILMINGTON RD

NEW HOPE CHURCH RD

KY-787

KY-348

CAIRO ROAD

KY-450

KY-3520

KY-3520

KY-1014

OLD CALVERT CITY R

COLEMAN RD

US 68 NC

KY-131

U.S. 45/8th Street

KY-358

US-60

U.S. 60 Ramp

KY-450

KY-786

US-60

I-24

US-60

I 24 NC

I-24

GUM SPRINGS RD.

John Puryear Drive

SHEMWELL AIRPORT R

I 24 NC

I-24

KY-305

I 24 NC

I-24

I-24

KY-1322

KY-3075

I 24 NC

I-24

KY-284

I 24 NC

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