County profile · official public datasets

Pike County, KY

331 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.9% rated Good, 59.5% Fair, 13.6% Poor.

331
Public bridges: 26.9%
Good condition: 13.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pike County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

114th
of 120 on Poor share: 13.6%
Poor-condition share: 331
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pike County ranks #114 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.6%). Pike County, Kentucky contains 331 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.9% are rated “Good,” 59.5% “Fair,” and 13.6% “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

331

Public highway bridges in Pike County

Good condition

26.9%

89 of 331 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.5%

197 of 331 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.6%

45 of 331 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#114 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 331 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.9% (89)

Fair

59.5% (197)

Poor

13.6% (45)

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 53,144 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,181 crossings a day against 2,105 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 331 of 331 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.5% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 331 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 26.9% 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 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 52 over KY292 TUG FORK, built 1997, carries 9,600 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 45-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 53,144 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

12
1930s

11
1940s

12
1950s

24
1960s

15
1970s

45
1980s

62
1990s

58
2000s

46
2010s

28
2020s

18

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 6 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Pike County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pike County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Graves County	380	33.4%	57.1%	9.5%	1976
Pike County (this page)	331	26.9%	59.5%	13.6%	1984
Christian County	300	23.7%	72.3%	4%	1981
Daviess County	282	18.4%	75.9%	5.7%	1979
Harlan County	252	25.8%	58.3%	15.9%	1980
Hopkins County	251	10.4%	80.5%	9.2%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (331 bridges here).

Sebastian County, AR · 331 bridges
Franklin County, MO · 331 bridges
Harrison County, MO · 331 bridges
Hickman County, TN · 331 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 331 Good 89 Fair 197 Poor 45

Fair-condition bridges (197)

Sort:

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 53,144 vehicle crossings a day

27.5% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pike 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 (197)

Hurts Br

Deskins Rd

CANEY HWY #1

Harvey Street

KY-194

KY 122

Thacker Rd

MUDLICK RD

BENTLEY RD

Little Creek

UPPER BLACKBERRY R

UPPER BLACKBERRY R

Sycamore Road

Allegheny Rd.

Rockhouse Crk

Marcum Btm

Woodman Summer Rd

KY-292

US-460

KY-468

KY-1441

MEATHOUSE RD

Peters Br

KY-199

Mikes Br

KY-195

KY-195

KY-195

KY-2169

KY-1056

KY-1056

MEATHOUSE RD

KY-Virginia Access

Rattlesnake Br

KY-1469

Wolfpit Branch Rd

KY-194

KY-197

Beech Creek

KY-3226

Blackburn Rd

NORTH BLACKBURN BT

Billy Dotson Br

TAYLOR FRK

KY-1789

KY-122

KY-199

KY-122

KY-1469

KY-3154

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