Total bridges
137
Public highway bridges in Shelby County
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.
Good condition
10.2%
14 of 137 rated 7-9
Fair condition
81.8%
112 of 137 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8%
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.
When Shelby County's bridges were built
137 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 6
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
13 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
18 bridges
- 1970s 11
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
20 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
29 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (11)
JAIL HILL RD
PoorOver: CLEAR CREEK
0.1 MI N OF US 60 WB, Shelby, KY
Built 1982 Load: 0.1 t ADT: 145
HEBRON RD
PoorOver: FOX RUN
150 FT N OF SCOTT STA RD, Shelby, KY
Built 1980 Load: 11.2 t ADT: 75
CLORE JACKSON RD
PoorOver: FOX RUN
0.6 MI W OF KY 55, Shelby, KY
Built 1919 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 117
KY 362
PoorOver: FIBLES RUN
100 FT W OF KY 1315, Shelby, KY
Built 1952 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 2,052
KY 148
PoorOver: GUIST CREEK
3.0 MI W OF KY 44, Shelby, KY
Built 1948 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 1,200
KY 362
PoorOver: BULLSKIN CREEK
400 FT W OF KY 53, Shelby, KY
Built 1952 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 2,052
KY 1779
PoorOver: GUIST CREEK LAKE
1.3 MI E OF KY 1871, Shelby, KY
Built 1960 Load: 32.3 t ADT: 1,596
KY 1790
PoorOver: I-64
2.0 MI W OF KY 714, Shelby, KY
Built 1960 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 619
KY 44
PoorOver: LITTLE BEECH CREEK
1.1 MI E OF KY 714, Shelby, KY
Built 1933 Load: 43.9 t ADT: 1,585
BRUNERSTOWN RD
PoorOver: BULLSKIN CREEK
1.75 MI W OF KY 55, Shelby, KY
Built 1982 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 152
KY 12
PoorOver: RJ CORMAN RAILROAD
70 FT W OF KY 1005, Shelby, KY
Built 1976 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 716
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.