County profile · official public datasets

Morgan County, KY

114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.9% rated Good, 46.5% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

114
Public bridges: 50.9%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 7%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 114
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morgan County ranks #8 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Morgan County, Kentucky contains 114 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.9% are rated “Good,” 46.5% “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

114

Public highway bridges in Morgan County

Good condition

50.9%

58 of 114 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.5%

53 of 114 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

3 of 114 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.9% (58)

Fair

46.5% (53)

Poor

2.6% (3)

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 911 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 304 crossings a day against 985 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 113 of 114 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

41 of the 114 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 50.9% 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 70.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-437 over BIRCH FK OF WILLIAMS CRK, built 1976, carries 643 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 911 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

10
1940s

4
1950s

9
1960s

8
1970s

13
1980s

13
1990s

24
2000s

10
2010s

13
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Morgan 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 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Morgan County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clark County	117	27.4%	60.7%	12%	1976
Fleming County	117	32.5%	62.4%	5.1%	1976
Caldwell County	116	12.1%	81%	6.9%	1972
Morgan County (this page)	114	50.9%	46.5%	2.6%	1981
Bourbon County	112	18.8%	78.6%	2.7%	1974
Leslie County	112	28.6%	58%	13.4%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (114 bridges here).

Calhoun County, AR · 114 bridges
Schuyler County, IL · 114 bridges
Brown County, IN · 114 bridges
Dallas County, MO · 114 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 114 Good 58 Fair 53 Poor 3

All bridges (114)

Sort:

KY 1000

Fair

Over: Caney Creek

200 FT N OF KY 191 INT, Morgan, KY

Built 2014 Load: 82.0 t ADT: 54

Cindas creek road

Fair

Over: Open fork paint creek

0.1 miles south of ky 172, Morgan, KY

Built 2013 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 130

KY-711

Fair

Over: N. FORK OF LICKING RIVER

.10 MI WEST OF JCT KY 7, Morgan, KY

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 911 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 70.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Morgan 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 (114)

KY 1000

Cindas creek road

KY-711

MALONE RD

Debbie Melvin Road

KY-772

HALSEY FRK

Ky 134 Connector

KY-437

KY 172

KY 172

WHEELER RD

KY 9009

Ky 9009

Ky 9009

US 460

HALSEY FRK

COW BRANCH RD

PLEASANT RUN RD

KY-3089

BENTON BRANCH RD

STINSON BRANCH RD

KIMBLER RD

PASTURE FRK

OLD ELAM RD

KY-172

KY-172

KY-1569

KY-650

KY-650

KY-437

KY-1010

KY-364

KY-705

KY-7

OLD HIGHWAY 7

Morgan Cent. Elem.

BEAR BRANCH RD

GILLIAM BRANCH RD

KEETON HEIGHTS RD

KY 9009

US-460

Ky 9009

Ky 9009

KY-437

BOLIN BR

US-460

KY 172

KY 9009

Buck Evans Br. Rd.

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