Total bridges
76
Public highway bridges in Wayne County
County profile · official public datasets
Wayne County, KY
76 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.4% rated Good, 61.8% Fair, 15.8% Poor.
- 76
- Public bridges
- 22.4%
- Good condition
- 15.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wayne County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 118th
- of 120 on Poor share
- 15.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 76
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Wayne County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #118 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.8%). Wayne County, Kentucky contains 76 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.4% are rated “Good,” 61.8% “Fair,” and 15.8% “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
22.4%
17 of 76 rated 7-9
Fair condition
61.8%
47 of 76 rated 5-6
Poor condition
15.8%
12 of 76 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#118 of 120
Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 76 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 22.4% (17)
Fair 61.8% (47)
Poor 15.8% (12)
Wayne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,412 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 118 crossings a day against 671 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 75 of 76 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
44.7% of Wayne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
34 of the 76 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 22.4% 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 40.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
KY-1756 over KENNEDY CREEK, built 1981, carries 570 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,412 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Wayne County's bridges were built
76 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
9 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
9 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
14 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
7 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 15 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 (1978) matches the Kentucky average (1978).
How Wayne County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 119 Kentucky counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyon County | 78 | 25.6% | 70.5% | 3.8% | 1972 |
| Metcalfe County | 78 | 10.3% | 87.2% | 2.6% | 1975 |
| Wolfe County | 77 | 54.5% | 41.6% | 3.9% | 1979 |
| Wayne County (this page) | 76 | 22.4% | 61.8% | 15.8% | 1978 |
| McLean County | 75 | 8% | 81.3% | 10.7% | 1963 |
| Mercer County | 75 | 32% | 61.3% | 6.7% | 1982 |
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 Wayne 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 Wayne County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside KY (76 bridges here).
- San Benito County, CA · 76 bridges
- Screven County, GA · 76 bridges
- Washington County, GA · 76 bridges
- Barnwell County, SC · 76 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (17)
KY-1275
GoodOver: ELK SPRINGS CREEK
1.3 MI E. OF KY 3106, Wayne, KY
Built 2004 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 708
KY-167
GoodOver: LITTLE SOUTH FORK RIVER
3.8 MI NOR OF TENN ST LIN, Wayne, KY
Built 1961 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 160
BEAVER CREEK RD
GoodOver: BRANCH-BEAVER CREEK
.3 MI SE JCT KY 200, Wayne, KY
Built 1994 Load: 33.1 t ADT: 30
KY-90
GoodOver: BEAVER CREEK
1.6 MI. WEST OF JCT.KY167, Wayne, KY
Built 1985 Load: 35.7 t ADT: 9,530
Rice Hollow Rd
GoodOver: Beaver Creek
0.2 MI W of KY 167, Wayne, KY
Built 2012 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 40
KY-167
GoodOver: BEAVER CREEK
5.5 MI S OF JCT KY 1258, Wayne, KY
Built 1956 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 160
KY-1619
GoodOver: HUTCHINSON BRANCH
.60 MI SE OF N-JCT KY 90, Wayne, KY
Built 1956 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 189
Lizzie Sharp Rd.
GoodOver: Langham Branch
0.4 Mi. W. KY-167, Wayne, KY
Built 2022 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 20
CR 5012
GoodOver: UNNAMED STREAM
1.0 MI SE JCT KY 1808, Wayne, KY
Built 2001 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 139
Floyd Morow Rd.
GoodOver: Unnamed Stream
0.12 M W of Dodson Hw, Wayne, KY
Built 2012 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 20
Dodson Hollow Rd
GoodOver: Meadow Creek
0.2 MI. S. - JCT.CR 5015, Wayne, KY
Built 2020 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 156
Duncan Ramsey Rd
GoodOver: MEADOW CREEK
200 FT N. OF JCT KY 1275, Wayne, KY
Built 2002 Load: 49.1 t ADT: 134
PUMP HOLLOW RD
GoodOver: CARPENTER CREEK
200 FT -W. JCT KY 200, Wayne, KY
Built 1996 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 10
Young Farm Road
GoodOver: Beaver Creek
0.3 Mi. W. of Jct. KY-167, Wayne, KY
Built 2016 Load: 52.5 t ADT: 30
Stinson Road
GoodOver: Dry Hollow Creek
15 E JCT Dry Hollow, Wayne, KY
Built 2014 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 20
Lonesome Road
GoodOver: Little South Fork River
0.25 SE of JCR CR 5137, Wayne, KY
Built 2021 Load: 74.8 t ADT: 17
GENE GRAY RD
GoodOver: SUMPTER HOLLOW
650 FT NORTH.OF JCT KY 92, Wayne, KY
Built 1955 Load: 83.6 t ADT: 40
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.