County profile · official public datasets

Metcalfe County, KY

78 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 10.3% rated Good, 87.2% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

78
Public bridges: 10.3%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Metcalfe County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 6%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 78
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Metcalfe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Metcalfe County ranks #7 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Metcalfe County, Kentucky contains 78 public highway bridges. Roughly 10.3% are rated “Good,” 87.2% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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

Public highway bridges in Metcalfe County

Good condition

10.3%

8 of 78 rated 7-9

Fair condition

87.2%

68 of 78 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

2 of 78 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 78 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

10.3% (8)

Fair

87.2% (68)

Poor

2.6% (2)

Metcalfe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,903 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,452 crossings a day against 1,458 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 78 of 78 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.8% of Metcalfe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

42 of the 78 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 10.3% 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 83.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-68 over CLAY LICK CREEK, built 1956, carries 4,096 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 4,903 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

7
1940s

5
1950s

12
1970s

18
1980s

4
1990s

12
2000s

1
2010s

14
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Metcalfe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Metcalfe County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Todd County	80	16.3%	76.3%	7.5%	1972
Grant County	79	55.7%	38%	6.3%	1988
Lyon County	78	25.6%	70.5%	3.8%	1972
Metcalfe County (this page)	78	10.3%	87.2%	2.6%	1975
Wolfe County	77	54.5%	41.6%	3.9%	1979
Wayne County	76	22.4%	61.8%	15.8%	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 Metcalfe 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 Metcalfe County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (78 bridges here).

Winston County, AL · 78 bridges
Marion County, FL · 78 bridges
Bryan County, GA · 78 bridges
Macon County, GA · 78 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 78 Good 8 Fair 68 Poor 2

All bridges (78)

Sort:

Metcalfe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Metcalfe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,903 vehicle crossings a day

53.8% of Metcalfe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 83.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Metcalfe 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 (78)

CEDAR HILL ROAD

Martin Pruitt Rd

Fletcher Rd

Fred Smith LSCh Rd

MELL-CORK RD

KY-496

ROY GRIDER RD

HILL TOP VW RD

KY-533

KY-80

FERRIS CREEK RD

KY-533

RAND GOODLUCK RD

KY-70

CEDAR FLAT-CURTIS

MILAM-CLARK ROAD

KY-2399

GLENN SHAW RD

PECKERWOOD RDG RD

KY-90

US-68

LN-9008

LN-9008

LN 9008

KY-90

KY-745

ECG RD

WILL DAVIS RD

KY-80

KY-544

DELK BR RD

KY-70

US-68

US-68

KY-80

KY-1243

US-68

KY-640

U.S. 68/80

KY-3234

CRENSHAW-CASSADY R

FERRIS CREEK RD

IRON MOUNTAIN RD

Rockland Mills Rd

JACK SPARKS RD

KY-70

KY-533

KY-543

Cedar Flat Curtis

US-68

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