County profile · official public datasets

Rowan County, KY

130 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.6% rated Good, 60.8% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

130
Public bridges: 34.6%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 130
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Rowan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rowan County ranks #34 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Rowan County, Kentucky contains 130 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.6% are rated “Good,” 60.8% “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

130

Public highway bridges in Rowan County

Good condition

34.6%

45 of 130 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.8%

79 of 130 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

6 of 130 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#34 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 130 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.6% (45)

Fair

60.8% (79)

Poor

4.6% (6)

Rowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 892 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 149 crossings a day against 1,891 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 129 of 130 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.4% of Rowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 130 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 34.6% 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 59.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

HOLLY FORK RD. over Fill Material, built 1975, carries 532 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 892 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

8
1940s

9
1950s

9
1960s

14
1970s

11
1980s

17
1990s

28
2000s

22
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Rowan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 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 Rowan County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Knott County	134	35.8%	51.5%	12.7%	1981
Laurel County	131	22.1%	73.3%	4.6%	1976
Campbell County	130	33.1%	59.2%	7.7%	1979
Rowan County (this page)	130	34.6%	60.8%	4.6%	1981
Knox County	127	19.7%	72.4%	7.9%	1979
Union County	127	21.3%	70.9%	7.9%	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 Rowan 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 Rowan County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (130 bridges here).

Kit Carson County, CO · 130 bridges
Bay County, FL · 130 bridges
Lowndes County, GA · 130 bridges
Whitfield County, GA · 130 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 130 Good 45 Fair 79 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (79)

Sort:

Rowan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rowan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 892 vehicle crossings a day

35.4% of Rowan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 59.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rowan 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 (79)

CRANEY CREEK-Bridg

SOUTH TOLLIVER RD

POND LICK RD

GENE WHITE LN

BRATTON BR

VETERANS LN

NICHOLS BR

SUN ST

RAVENSWOOD RD

WEST MAIN ST

MESSER RD

BRATTON BR

KY-174

RIDDLE FORK RD

CS-1136

CARDINAL LANE E

DRY CREEK ROAD

KY-785

HOLLY FORK RD

JAYCEE FARM ROAD

DEWITT CEMETERY RD

KY-377

UPPER CRANEY RD

PENNINGTON FLAT RD

THORNSBERRY 1608

KY-174

I-64 NC

I-64

KY-174

UPPER CRANEY RD

MATTHEWS BR

KY-1722

PENNINGTON FLAT RD

KY-519

POND LICK RD

US-60

KY-799

UPPER CRANEY SPUR

OLD SPORTSMAN RD

BULLFORK RD

KY-799

ELK LICK RD

KY-32

KY-32

CR 1113 Old House

UPPER CRANEY RD

WEST MAIN ST

US-60

KY-377

KY 519

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