County profile · official public datasets

Union County, KY

127 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.3% rated Good, 70.9% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

127
Public bridges: 21.3%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

73rd
of 120 on Poor share: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 127
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #73 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Union County, Kentucky contains 127 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.3% are rated “Good,” 70.9% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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

127

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

21.3%

27 of 127 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70.9%

90 of 127 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

10 of 127 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#73 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 127 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.3% (27)

Fair

70.9% (90)

Poor

7.9% (10)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,767 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 477 crossings a day against 584 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 127 of 127 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.4% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

64 of the 127 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 21.3% 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 26% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-360 over LOST CREEK, built 1957, carries 1,240 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,767 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

20
1940s

3
1950s

25
1960s

8
1970s

18
1980s

18
1990s

16
2000s

3
2010s

12
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 6 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Union County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Laurel County	131	22.1%	73.3%	4.6%	1976
Campbell County	130	33.1%	59.2%	7.7%	1979
Rowan County	130	34.6%	60.8%	4.6%	1981
Knox County	127	19.7%	72.4%	7.9%	1979
Union County (this page)	127	21.3%	70.9%	7.9%	1972
Breathitt County	124	44.4%	48.4%	7.3%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (127 bridges here).

Yuba County, CA · 127 bridges
Jefferson County, ID · 127 bridges
Harrison County, IN · 127 bridges
Vermillion County, IN · 127 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 127 Good 27 Fair 90 Poor 10

All bridges (127)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,767 vehicle crossings a day

50.4% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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

All bridges (127)

WATKINS RD

KY-1177

KY-1508

KY-109

KY-130

KY-1257

KY-950

KY-950

HILLTOP RD

V T CRAWLEY RD

CR 1141

KY-130

KY-109

KY-109

KY-56

KY-923

GOOSE POND RD

KY-130

KY-270

KY-359

KY-56

KY-758

GENERAL HOLT RD

KY-130

KY-1508

BEN HARRIS RD

US-60

T L Bishop Road

BEN HARRIS RD

BEN HARRIS RD

KY-1180

US-60

KY-492

MOUNT VERNON RD

KY-1508

KY-667

CR 1038

US-60

KY-141

KY-56

KY-270

KY-871

KY-760

KY-492

KY-758

KY-667

SMITH MILLS-UNIONT

BEN HARRIS RD

SULLIVAN RD

US-60B

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