County profile · official public datasets

Pendleton County, KY

94 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34% rated Good, 61.7% Fair, 4.3% Poor.

94
Public bridges: 34%
Good condition: 4.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.3%
Poor-condition share: 94
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Pendleton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pendleton County ranks #27 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.3%). Pendleton County, Kentucky contains 94 public highway bridges. Roughly 34% are rated “Good,” 61.7% “Fair,” and 4.3% “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 Pendleton County

Good condition

34%

32 of 94 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.7%

58 of 94 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.3%

4 of 94 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 94 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34% (32)

Fair

61.7% (58)

Poor

4.3% (4)

Pendleton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 227 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 57 crossings a day against 451 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 94 of 94 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.6% of Pendleton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

41 of the 94 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 34% 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 31.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ED MONROE RD over TRIB. TO LICKING RIVER, built 1930, carries 71 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 227 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

12
1940s

12
1950s

10
1960s

4
1970s

7
1980s

8
1990s

12
2000s

14
2010s

11
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Pendleton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 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 Pendleton County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mason County	97	33%	58.8%	8.2%	1980
Fulton County	95	26.3%	62.1%	11.6%	1965
Henry County	94	22.3%	64.9%	12.8%	1979
Pendleton County (this page)	94	34%	61.7%	4.3%	1977
Cumberland County	93	22.6%	72%	5.4%	1981
Taylor County	92	55.4%	42.4%	2.2%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (94 bridges here).

Yukon-Koyukuk County, AK · 94 bridges
Lee County, AR · 94 bridges
Huerfano County, CO · 94 bridges
Charles County, MD · 94 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 94 Good 32 Fair 58 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (32)

Sort:

Pendleton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pendleton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 227 vehicle crossings a day

43.6% of Pendleton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pendleton 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

Good-condition bridges (32)

MORGAN FOUR OAKS R

GRIMES RD

MENZIE RD

HALEY ROAD

KY-22

KNOXVILLE-GARDENER

MCKINNEYSBURG RD

MILFORD RIVER

KNOXVILLE-GARDNERS

KY-1657

MILFORD RD

KY-609

KY-159

GUMLICK RD

US-27

LENOXBURG RD

JACKS BRANCH RD

BLANKET CREEK ROAD

GREENWOOD PORTLAND

FLOUR CREEK RD

KY-330

JOHN DENNY ROAD

HALE ROAD

CROOKED CREEK RD

LENOXBURG RD

KY-467

FAIRVIEW RD

WHITSON ROAD

CARTERS CHAPEL RD

Mullins Road

KY 159

KY-3185

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