County profile · official public datasets

Spencer County, KY

58 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 15.5% rated Good, 75.9% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

58
Public bridges: 15.5%
Good condition: 8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

82nd
of 120 on Poor share: 8.6%
Poor-condition share: 58
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.

Spencer County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Spencer County ranks #82 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Spencer County, Kentucky contains 58 public highway bridges. Roughly 15.5% are rated “Good,” 75.9% “Fair,” and 8.6% “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

Public highway bridges in Spencer County

Good condition

15.5%

9 of 58 rated 7-9

Fair condition

75.9%

44 of 58 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

5 of 58 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#82 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 58 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

15.5% (9)

Fair

75.9% (44)

Poor

8.6% (5)

Spencer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,849 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,170 crossings a day against 979 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 58 of 58 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.8% of Spencer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

19 of the 58 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 15.5% 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 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY 44 over PLUM CREEK, built 1932, carries 3,985 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,849 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

4
1960s

6
1970s

9
1980s

13
1990s

6
2000s

3
2010s

6
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Spencer County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 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 Spencer County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Woodford County	60	26.7%	65%	8.3%	1976
Jessamine County	58	24.1%	74.1%	1.7%	1980
Spencer County (this page)	58	15.5%	75.9%	8.6%	1981
Green County	57	59.6%	28.1%	12.3%	1979
Hart County	57	43.9%	54.4%	1.8%	1980
Estill County	56	37.5%	51.8%	10.7%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (58 bridges here).

Wrangell City and County, AK · 58 bridges
Jeff Davis County, GA · 58 bridges
Putnam County, GA · 58 bridges
Union County, IN · 58 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 58 Good 9 Fair 44 Poor 5

Fair-condition bridges (44)

Sort:

Spencer County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Spencer County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,849 vehicle crossings a day

32.8% of Spencer County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Spencer 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 (44)

KY 1392

KY 636

KY 1633

KY 1060

KY 1633

KY 248

KY 3192

KY 1066

KY 636

BRASHEARS CREEK RD

BRASHEARS CREEK RD

KY 44

KY 1251

KY 1392

KY 44

KY 652

TEN MILE RD

KY 48

KY 1169

KY 155

KY 1169

OLD HEADY RD

YODER TIPTON RD

KY 2239

KY 44 WB

KY 44 EB

KY 1169

CHELSEY PARK DR

LITTLE MT CHURCH

HOAGLAND HILL RD

KY 2885

ROBERTS RD

HOCHSTRASSER RD

DUTCHMAN CREEK RD

KY 44

KY 155

KY 623

BRASHEARS CREEK RD

BEECH CREEK RD

KY 248

US 31E

KY 44

KY 248 WB

KY 248 EB

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