County profile · official public datasets

Nelson County, KY

151 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.4% rated Good, 51.7% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

151
Public bridges: 40.4%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nelson County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

74th
of 120 on Poor share: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 151
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Nelson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nelson County ranks #74 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Nelson County, Kentucky contains 151 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.4% are rated “Good,” 51.7% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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

151

Public highway bridges in Nelson County

Good condition

40.4%

61 of 151 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.7%

78 of 151 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

12 of 151 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#74 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 151 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.4% (61)

Fair

51.7% (78)

Poor

7.9% (12)

Nelson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,846 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 904 crossings a day against 2,018 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 151 of 151 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57% of Nelson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 151 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 40.4% 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 21.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-31E over ROLLING FORK RIVER, built 1941, carries 2,352 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,846 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

16
1940s

9
1950s

20
1960s

33
1970s

14
1980s

7
1990s

19
2000s

13
2010s

13
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Nelson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nelson County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Harrison County	153	38.6%	55.6%	5.9%	1981
Muhlenberg County	152	12.5%	82.9%	4.6%	1967
Nelson County (this page)	151	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1974
Lewis County	149	28.9%	67.1%	4%	1982
Marion County	149	53%	39.6%	7.4%	1981
Whitley County	149	24.8%	69.1%	6%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (151 bridges here).

Randolph County, AR · 151 bridges
Pasco County, FL · 151 bridges
St. Lucie County, FL · 151 bridges
Hall County, GA · 151 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 151 Good 61 Fair 78 Poor 12

All bridges (151)

Sort:

Nelson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nelson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,846 vehicle crossings a day

57% of Nelson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nelson 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 (151)

ICETOWN RD

US-150

US-31E

KY-247

KY-605

KY-605

KY-1873

KY-733

KY-733

KY-605

KY-733

KY-2739

KY-162

DRAKE LN X

KY-1066

US-62

KY-48

KY-2775

KY-52

KY-55

DUGAN RD

MARTHA LAYNE COLLI

KY-2230

KY-733

US-31E

KY-52

KY-605

US-31E

BLUEGRASS PARKWAY

BG-9002

BLUEGRASS PARKWAY

BG-9002

KY-458

EGGEN RD

KY-52

KY-52

BG-9002

Russell Rd.

KY-1858

KY-55

BLUEGRASS PARKWAY

BLUEGRASS PARKWAY

MURPHY LN

KY-84

GRIGSBY LN

Bluegrass Parkway

Bluegrass Parkway

BENNETTS LN

Bluegrass Parkway

Bluegrass Parkway

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