County profile · official public datasets

Warren County, KY

106 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 18.9% rated Good, 77.4% Fair, 3.8% Poor.

106
Public bridges: 18.9%
Good condition: 3.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Warren County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.8%
Poor-condition share: 106
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Warren County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Warren County ranks #21 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.8%). Warren County, Kentucky contains 106 public highway bridges. Roughly 18.9% are rated “Good,” 77.4% “Fair,” and 3.8% “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

106

Public highway bridges in Warren County

Good condition

18.9%

20 of 106 rated 7-9

Fair condition

77.4%

82 of 106 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.8%

4 of 106 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 106 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

18.9% (20)

Fair

77.4% (82)

Poor

3.8% (4)

Warren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,926 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,982 crossings a day against 5,219 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 106 of 106 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.5% of Warren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

44 of the 106 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 18.9% 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 78.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY 3145 over Commonwealth Blvd., built 2016, carries 9,399 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,926 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

4
1940s

1
1950s

7
1960s

4
1970s

31
1980s

9
1990s

8
2000s

23
2010s

16
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 6 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Warren County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Warren County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Trigg County	109	39.4%	51.4%	9.2%	1980
Magoffin County	107	43.9%	53.3%	2.8%	1986
Warren County (this page)	106	18.9%	77.4%	3.8%	1984
Livingston County	104	30.8%	64.4%	4.8%	1974
Washington County	104	52.9%	35.6%	11.5%	1982
Lawrence County	103	19.4%	72.8%	7.8%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (106 bridges here).

Ashley County, AR · 106 bridges
Baca County, CO · 106 bridges
Lincoln County, MN · 106 bridges
Quitman County, MS · 106 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 106 Good 20 Fair 82 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (82)

Sort:

Warren County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Warren County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,926 vehicle crossings a day

41.5% of Warren County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 78.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Warren 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 (82)

KY-1435

LODGE HALL RD

US-231

SCOTTSVILLE RD NC

MOUNT LEBANON RD

CAMPBELL LANE

BRISTOW RD

PONDSVILLE RD

I-65

SCOTTSVILLE RD NC

KY-1749

I-65

I-165

I-165

KY-622

SIMS RD (CR 1171)

US-68

I-165

I-65-10 NC

I-65

BOYCE-FAIRVIEW RD

I-165

I-165

I-165

US-231

US-231

KY-1083

US-231

KY-626

NORTH CAMPBELL RD

HALL CHAPEL ROAD

KY-1435

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