County profile · official public datasets

Meade County, KY

24 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.7% rated Good, 50% Fair, 8.3% Poor.

24
Public bridges
41.7%
Good condition
8.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Meade County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

80th
of 120 on Poor share
8.3%
Poor-condition share
24
public highway bridges
1986
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.

Meade County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Meade County ranks #80 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Meade County, Kentucky contains 24 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.7% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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

24

Public highway bridges in Meade County

Good condition

41.7%

10 of 24 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

12 of 24 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.3%

2 of 24 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#80 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 24 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
41.7% (10)
Fair
50% (12)
Poor
8.3% (2)

Meade County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 85 crossings a day against 4,243 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 23 of 24 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25% of Meade County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

6 of the 24 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 41.7% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LONG BR RD over DOE RUN, built 1970, carries 85 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 85 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Meade County's bridges were built

24 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 7 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 8 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Meade County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 12 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Meade County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Lee County 42 7.1%
Clinton County 41 7.3%
Edmonson County 39 12.8%
McCreary County 39 15.4%
Robertson County 24 8.3%
Meade County (this page) 24 8.3%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (24 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1986 here).

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

All 24 Good 10 Fair 12 Poor 2

All bridges (24)

KY-933

Fair

Over: SPILLWAY-DOE RUN DAM

3.0 MI N.E. OF JCT KY 448, Meade, KY

Built 1962 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 889

CROSIER BOTTOM RD

Fair

Over: FRENCH CREEK

0.9 MI NE OF JCT. KY 228, Meade, KY

Built 2002 Load: 27.8 t ADT: 89

KY 79

Fair

Over: OHIO RIVER & CO ROAD

0.5M N JCT KY 228, Meade, KY

Built 1967 Load: 28.2 t ADT: 3,269

KY-144

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK

.6 MI E OF W-JCT KY 230, Meade, KY

Built 1930 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 330

KY-230

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK

2 MI N OF W-JCT KY 144, Meade, KY

Built 1955 Load: 32.6 t ADT: 106

FORT AVENUE

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

0.05 KM N OTTER CK AS RD, Meade, KY

Built 2019 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 20

TWIN BRIDGES RD

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

0.2 KM S OF PINWHEEL RD, Meade, KY

Built 2019 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 20

KY-1638

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

1.5 M E JCT KY 1238, Meade, KY

Built 1990 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 7,436

WATSON RD

Fair

Over: WATSON RUN SLOUGH

.6 MI N JCT KY 230, Meade, KY

Built 1997 Load: 45.9 t ADT: 20

Lapland Rd.

Fair

Over: Branch of Wolf Creek

.15 Miles SE of Knob Rd., Meade, KY

Built 1992 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 4

US-60

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

4.5 MI.E.-KY 144, Meade, KY

Built 1981 Load: 69.7 t ADT: 6,468

TWIN BRIDGES RD

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

0.2 KM S OF PINWHEEL RD, Meade, KY

Built 2005 Load: 74.8 t ADT: 50

KY-144

Good

Over: OTTER CREEK

@ HARDIN- MEADE CO LINE, Meade, KY

Built 1990 Load: 29.6 t ADT: 2,080

KY 313

Good

Over: Otter Creek

0.2 Mi S of Jct KY 1882, Meade, KY

Built 2011 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 10,327

PINWHEEL ROAD

Good

Over: DRY BRANCH

1.6 KM N OF VINE GROVE RD, Meade, KY

Built 1999 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50

BRANDENBURG STA RD

Good

Over: US 31W

3.5 KM N. OF CHAFFEE AVE., Meade, KY

Built 1996 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 400

KY-1638

Good

Over: DOE RUN

1.0 MI EAST OF JCT KY 448, Meade, KY

Built 1977 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 7,955

KY-1816

Good

Over: OTTER CREEK

1.2MI.E JCT. KY 1882, Meade, KY

Built 1993 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 426

KY 313

Good

Over: CSX RAILROAD

0.2 MI W. of JCT KY-1638, Meade, KY

Built 2007 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 14,536

US-60

Good

Over: TANK TRAIL

3.7 MI E. KY 144, Meade, KY

Built 1981 Load: 47.1 t ADT: 6,468

KY-228

Good

Over: WOLF CREEK

6.2 MI W OF JCT KY 228, Meade, KY

Built 1988 Load: 53.1 t ADT: 172

PINWHEEL RD

Good

Over: US 60

4.9 MI E. KY 144, Meade, KY

Built 1981 Load: 98.9 t ADT: 12

RAILWAY TRESTLE RD

Poor

Over: P&L RAILROAD

0.1 KM E US31W, Meade, KY

Built 1960

LONG BR RD

Poor

Over: DOE RUN

0.2 MI N OF JCT KY 933, Meade, KY

Built 1970 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 85

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.