County profile · official public datasets

Nicholas County, KY

82 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.7% rated Good, 63.4% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

82
Public bridges: 31.7%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nicholas 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 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 82
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Nicholas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nicholas County ranks #37 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Nicholas County, Kentucky contains 82 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.7% are rated “Good,” 63.4% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Nicholas County

Good condition

31.7%

26 of 82 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.4%

52 of 82 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

4 of 82 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 82 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.7% (26)

Fair

63.4% (52)

Poor

4.9% (4)

Nicholas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,729 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 432 crossings a day against 777 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 82 of 82 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.8% of Nicholas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

40 of the 82 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 31.7% 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 43.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-32 over TRIB-HOOKTOWN BRANCH, built 1929, carries 747 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,729 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

12
1940s

5
1950s

13
1960s

2
1970s

4
1980s

6
1990s

9
2000s

15
2010s

8
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 5 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Nicholas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nicholas County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ballard County	85	31.8%	56.5%	11.8%	1971
Anderson County	84	17.9%	75%	7.1%	1975
Nicholas County (this page)	82	31.7%	63.4%	4.9%	1973
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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (82 bridges here).

Murray County, GA · 82 bridges
Gallatin County, IL · 82 bridges
Thomas County, KS · 82 bridges
St. Charles County, LA · 82 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 82 Good 26 Fair 52 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (52)

Sort:

Nicholas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nicholas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,729 vehicle crossings a day

48.8% of Nicholas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nicholas 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 (52)

BOBTOWN RD

TOM GEORGE LN

ABNERS MILL RD

KY-57

KY-57

KY-1244

KY-1244

KY-57

KY-57

JOHNSON RD.CR-1309

MILLER STATION RD

KY-386

KY-3316

Ishmael Ch Rd 1045

KY-36

KY-386

KY-13

KY-57

KY-1244

US-68

KY-36

KY-32

KY-13

KY-36

OLD MAYSVILLE RD #

KY-1244

KY-36

GARNETT RD

STONEY CREEK RD

KY-928

KY-36

US-68

KY-32

KY-32

KY-32

KY-32

LOWER SHARPSBURG R

UPPER SHARPSBURG R

SOUTH WALNUT ST

ABNERS MILL RD

LOCUST GROVE RD

KENNEY ROAD

Ishmael Chapel Rd

KY-57

US-68

MORNING GLORY RD

CR 1313

KY-32

KY-36

KY-1285

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