County profile · official public datasets

Mercer County, KY

75 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32% rated Good, 61.3% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

75
Public bridges: 32%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 75
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Mercer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mercer County ranks #53 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Mercer County, Kentucky contains 75 public highway bridges. Roughly 32% are rated “Good,” 61.3% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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 Mercer County

Good condition

32%

24 of 75 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.3%

46 of 75 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

5 of 75 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 75 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32% (24)

Fair

61.3% (46)

Poor

6.7% (5)

Mercer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,248 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 650 crossings a day against 1,209 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 75 of 75 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36% of Mercer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

27 of the 75 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 32% 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 81.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-68 over KENTUCKY RIVER, built 1954, carries 2,641 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,248 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

5
1940s

2
1950s

8
1960s

6
1970s

6
1980s

7
1990s

23
2000s

8
2010s

5
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Mercer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mercer County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wolfe County	77	54.5%	41.6%	3.9%	1979
Wayne County	76	22.4%	61.8%	15.8%	1978
McLean County	75	8%	81.3%	10.7%	1963
Mercer County (this page)	75	32%	61.3%	6.7%	1982
Carlisle County	74	35.1%	62.2%	2.7%	1973
Montgomery County	74	23%	66.2%	10.8%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (75 bridges here).

Washington County, CO · 75 bridges
Bradford County, FL · 75 bridges
Toombs County, GA · 75 bridges
Dent County, MO · 75 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 75 Good 24 Fair 46 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (46)

Sort:

Mercer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mercer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,248 vehicle crossings a day

36% of Mercer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 81.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mercer 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 (46)

ISON LN

JACKSON PKE

BONDVILLE RD

BUGG RD

KY-1987

DEEP CREEK RD

OREGON RD

CORNISHVILLE STREE

NEW DIXVILLE RD

KY-152

KY-926

PROVIDENCE RD

KY-1941

KY 152

KY-33

BRUNERS CHAPEL RD

FAIRVIEW RD

BONDVILLE RD

KY-390

KY-152

HENRY ROBINSON RD

DANVILLE ROAD

PROVIDENCE RD

HORN RD

KEENON RD

MARTHA LAYNE COLLI

BG-9002

STRATTON RD

OLD DIXVILLE RD

SEXTON RD

PARADISE CAMP RD

KYLE LN

BREWERS MILL RD

JOHNSON RD

BONDVILLE RD

CATLETT RD

KY-1915

ALFORD RD

HARRODSBURG BYPASS

OREGON ROAD

BARDSTOWN RD

KY-1915

US-68

KY-390

KY-342

US-68

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