County profile · official public datasets

Muhlenberg County, KY

152 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 12.5% rated Good, 82.9% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

152
Public bridges
12.5%
Good condition
4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Muhlenberg County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state
4.6%
Poor-condition share
152
public highway bridges
1967
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.

Muhlenberg County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Muhlenberg County ranks #33 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Muhlenberg County, Kentucky contains 152 public highway bridges. Roughly 12.5% are rated “Good,” 82.9% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

152

Public highway bridges in Muhlenberg County

Good condition

12.5%

19 of 152 rated 7-9

Fair condition

82.9%

126 of 152 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

7 of 152 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 152 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
12.5% (19)
Fair
82.9% (126)
Poor
4.6% (7)

Muhlenberg County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,700 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,386 crossings a day against 2,000 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 152 of 152 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.9% of Muhlenberg County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 152 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 12.5% 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 56.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-431 over PLUM CRK, built 1930, carries 5,440 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,700 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Muhlenberg County's bridges were built

152 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 11 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Muhlenberg County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Muhlenberg County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Madison County 154 3.9%
Harrison County 153 5.9%
Muhlenberg County (this page) 152 4.6%
Nelson County 151 7.9%
Lewis County 149 4%
Marion County 149 7.4%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (152 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1967 here).

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

All 152 Good 19 Fair 126 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (19)

CR1401 Ford Ln

Good

Over: Drainage Ditch

0.1 MI SOU JCT KY 175, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2013 Load: 20.1 t ADT: 50

MYERS CHAPEL RD

Good

Over: NORMAN BRANCH

1.6 MI SW JCT US 431, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1994 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 147

LONE STAR RD

Good

Over: BRANCH-POND RIVER

1.8 MI SW JCT KY 853, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1995 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 100

KY-1379

Good

Over: FORK-NELSON CREEK

.25 MI E. JCT KY 277, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2001 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 363

KY-1163

Good

Over: CARTER CREEK

3.863 MI SE JCT KY 181, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1985 Load: 30.5 t ADT: 335

MYERS CHAPEL RD

Good

Over: ROCKY CREEK

1 MI N KY 973, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1991 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 125

ST-1001

Good

Over: KY 181

0.6 mi N of JCT WK PKWY, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2020 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 50

US-62

Good

Over: BR CYPRESS CREEK

1.63 MI SW OF JCT US 431, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1984 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 9,121

CR 1365

Good

Over: Trib. to Cypress Creek

0.4 mi. N. Jct. KY 175, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2012 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 100

CR1189 Belcher Ln.

Good

Over: Lazy Branch

0.6 mi. SW jct. US431, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2015 Load: 41.4 t ADT: 110

CR1146 Hunt Road

Good

Over: Lyons Branch

146' S. Jct KY 949, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2015 Load: 41.4 t ADT: 50

KY-2270

Good

Over: HAZEL CREEK

.05 MI E JCT US 431, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1989 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 937

UNION RIDGE RD

Good

Over: ROCKY CREEK

2.4 MI SE OF JCT US 431, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2019 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 9

KY 601

Good

Over: Caney Creek

0.9 MI W OF JCT KY 181, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2021 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 1,352

KY-189

Good

Over: Field

.25 MI SW OF JCT KY 181, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1981 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 4,319

US 62

Good

Over: P&L Railway

0.1 MI W JCT KY 1031, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2022 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 9,121

WELLS RD

Good

Over: LONG CREEK

1.2 MI. N. OF JCT. KY 853, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 1981 Load: 59.8 t ADT: 50

RIDGE RD

Good

Over: CSX RAIL ROAD

.3 MI S JCT KY 70, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2001 Load: 75.8 t ADT: 300

WK-9001 ramp

Good

Over: THOMPSON CREEK

430EAST OF KY 175, Muhlenberg, KY

Built 2003 Load: 94.3 t ADT: 11,363

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.