Total bridges
124
Public highway bridges in Breathitt County
County profile · official public datasets
Breathitt County, KY
124 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.4% rated Good, 48.4% Fair, 7.3% Poor.
- 124
- Public bridges
- 44.4%
- Good condition
- 7.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Breathitt County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 49%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 7.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 124
- 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.
Breathitt County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Breathitt County ranks #59 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Breathitt County, Kentucky contains 124 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.4% are rated “Good,” 48.4% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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
44.4%
55 of 124 rated 7-9
Fair condition
48.4%
60 of 124 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.3%
9 of 124 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#59 of 120
Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 124 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 44.4% (55)
Fair 48.4% (60)
Poor 7.3% (9)
Breathitt County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,461 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 273 crossings a day against 1,141 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 124 of 124 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
39.5% of Breathitt County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
49 of the 124 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 44.4% 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 60.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
KY-1812 over QUICKSAND CREEK, built 1929, carries 1,483 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 2,461 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Breathitt County's bridges were built
124 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 8
1930–1939
8 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
17 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
11 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
26 bridges
- 1980s 5
1980–1989
5 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
22 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s 8
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Kentucky average (1978).
How Breathitt County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Breathitt County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 2nd-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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell County | 130 | 33.1% | 59.2% | 7.7% | 1979 |
| Knox County | 127 | 19.7% | 72.4% | 7.9% | 1979 |
| Union County | 127 | 21.3% | 70.9% | 7.9% | 1972 |
| Breathitt County (this page) | 124 | 44.4% | 48.4% | 7.3% | 1978 |
| Hickman County | 123 | 30.9% | 60.2% | 8.9% | 1970 |
| Grayson County | 119 | 39.5% | 54.6% | 5.9% | 1972 |
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 Breathitt 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 Breathitt County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside KY (124 bridges here).
- Bannock County, ID · 124 bridges
- Caldwell County, LA · 124 bridges
- St. Mary County, LA · 124 bridges
- Bollinger County, MO · 124 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.
All bridges (124)
KY-1278
GoodOver: LOST CREEK
.01 Miles west of KY 15, Breathitt, KY
Built 1997 Load: 49.4 t ADT: 430
CLEAR FORK ROAD
GoodOver: FROZEN CREEK
.05 MI S JCT KY 378, Breathitt, KY
Built 1994 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 32
KY-30
GoodOver: Miller Branch
.1 MI E OF JCT KY 52, Breathitt, KY
Built 1977 Load: 53.5 t ADT: 4,950
KY-1812
GoodOver: Johnson Fork
.75 MI NW OF N-JCT KY 205, Breathitt, KY
Built 2019 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 125
HARDSHELL FUGATE F
GoodOver: TROUBLESOME CREEK
0.1 MI. E. KY. 476 JCT., Breathitt, KY
Built 2004 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 79
HOOVER BRIDGE ROAD
GoodOver: FROZEN CREEK
.05 MI. W. KY. 1812 JCT., Breathitt, KY
Built 2004 Load: 59.6 t ADT: 241
JETTS CREEK ROAD
GoodOver: JETTS CREEK
@N-TERM. KY 1202, Breathitt, KY
Built 1978 Load: 60.6 t ADT: 63
KY-205
GoodOver: BOONE FORK
.15 MI. N JCT KY 1812, Breathitt, KY
Built 1997 Load: 61.8 t ADT: 1,307
KY-378
GoodOver: Frozen Creek @Sewell
.7 MI N OF JCT KY 1812, Breathitt, KY
Built 2020 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 288
Bowling road
GoodOver: Left fork Lick Branch
At junction of Ky 3237, Breathitt, KY
Built 2022 Load: 63.7 t ADT: 280
Morris Fork Road
GoodOver: Burton Fork
0.08 MI S JCT KY 28, Breathitt, KY
Built 2019 Load: 75.2 t ADT: 205
KY-30
GoodOver: CANE CREEK
.2 MI W OF JCT KY 52, Breathitt, KY
Built 1977 Load: 75.9 t ADT: 2,662
KY-15
GoodOver: COCKRELL FORK
0.8 MI N OF PERRY CL, Breathitt, KY
Built 1966 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 5,200
KY-2469
GoodOver: UPPER TWIN CREEK @LEE CO
.45 MI SE OF JCT KY 52, Breathitt, KY
Built 1953 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 47
Bowling road
GoodOver: Left fork Lick Branch
0.2 miles east of Ky 3237, Breathitt, KY
Built 2022 Load: 99.8 t ADT: 180
Jones Branch
PoorOver: South Fk Quicksand Creek
100 S of KY 1098 MP 9.23, Breathitt, KY
Built 2013 Load: 0.1 t ADT: 55
Rt Fk Jetts creek
PoorOver: Jetts Creek
0.1 mile W Ky 1202, Breathitt, KY
Built 2000 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 50
KY-1812
PoorOver: COPE FK OF FROZEN CREEK
.02 MI EAST OF JCT KY 540, Breathitt, KY
Built 1939 Load: 15.5 t ADT: 199
BIG BRANCH ROAD
PoorOver: BIG BRANCH CREEK
.7 MI SE OF JCT KY 15, Breathitt, KY
Built 1970 Load: 19.3 t ADT: 125
KY-1812
PoorOver: QUICKSAND CREEK
.1 MI W OF S JCT KY 15, Breathitt, KY
Built 1929 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 1,483
GREASY CREEK ROAD
PoorOver: SHOULDER BLADE CREEK
.05 MI SE OF JCT KY 30, Breathitt, KY
Built 1975 Load: 24.6 t ADT: 41
BARTLETT PARK ROAD
PoorOver: LITTLE YELLOW CREEK
0.3 MILES TO SKYLAND ROAD, Breathitt, KY
Built 1970 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 400
LITTLE BUCKHORN RO
PoorOver: BUCKHORN CREEK
1.8 MI E JCT KY 476, Breathitt, KY
Built 1997 Load: 33.8 t ADT: 36
UPPER LAUREL FORK
PoorOver: LAUREL FK-BUCKHORN CRK
.30 MI S OF JCT CR 5135, Breathitt, KY
Built 1974 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 72
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.