County profile · official public datasets

Shelby County, KY

137 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 10.2% rated Good, 81.8% Fair, 8% Poor.

137
Public bridges: 10.2%
Good condition: 8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

75th
of 120 on Poor share: 8%
Poor-condition share: 137
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Shelby County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Shelby County ranks #75 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8%). Shelby County, Kentucky contains 137 public highway bridges. Roughly 10.2% are rated “Good,” 81.8% “Fair,” and 8% “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

137

Public highway bridges in Shelby County

Good condition

10.2%

14 of 137 rated 7-9

Fair condition

81.8%

112 of 137 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11 of 137 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 137 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

10.2% (14)

Fair

81.8% (112)

Poor

8% (11)

Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,309 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 937 crossings a day against 5,690 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 137 of 137 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.3% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 137 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 10.2% 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 19.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY 362 over BULLSKIN CREEK, built 1952, carries 2,052 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,309 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

4
1950s

13
1960s

18
1970s

11
1980s

20
1990s

29
2000s

19
2010s

13
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 29 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Shelby County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Shelby County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kenton County	142	39.4%	52.8%	7.7%	1978
Boone County	138	40.6%	55.1%	4.3%	1981
Shelby County (this page)	137	10.2%	81.8%	8%	1982
Lincoln County	136	13.2%	83.8%	2.9%	1976
Logan County	135	17.8%	78.5%	3.7%	1978
Knott County	134	35.8%	51.5%	12.7%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (137 bridges here).

Fremont County, CO · 137 bridges
Prowers County, CO · 137 bridges
Fremont County, ID · 137 bridges
Orange County, IN · 137 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 137 Good 14 Fair 112 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (112)

Sort:

Shelby County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Shelby County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,309 vehicle crossings a day

34.3% of Shelby County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Shelby 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 (112)

KY 362

KY 322

VAN DYKE MILL RD

BROOKS INDUSTRIAL

KY 1848

BELLVIEW RD

KY 2862

BENSON PIKE

DRANE LN

KY 55

US 60

CLEAR CREEK RD

KY 53

KY 43

KY 395

KY 55

KY 1472

KY 55

KY 55

I-64

KY 1790

PICKETTS DAM RD

KY 55

I-64

ROCKBRIDGE RD

KY 53

CRAB ORCHARD RD

KY 395

BEARDS LN

HANSBOROUGH RD

KY 1779

FAIRVIEW RD

I-64 WB

I-64 EB

GORDON LN

KY 1472

US 60

ROCKBRIDGE RD

BEARDS LN

US 60

ANTIOCH RD

HEBRON RD

KY 2861

KY 1848

McCONNELL WAY

KY 714

US 60

I-64 EB

JACKSONVILLE RD

I-64

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