County profile · official public datasets

Elliott County, KY

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 11.3% rated Good, 73.6% Fair, 15.1% Poor.

53
Public bridges: 11.3%
Good condition: 15.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

116th
of 120 on Poor share: 15.1%
Poor-condition share: 53
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Elliott County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Elliott County ranks #116 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.1%). Elliott County, Kentucky contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 11.3% are rated “Good,” 73.6% “Fair,” and 15.1% “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 Elliott County

Good condition

11.3%

6 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73.6%

39 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.1%

8 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#116 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

11.3% (6)

Fair

73.6% (39)

Poor

15.1% (8)

Elliott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,105 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 138 crossings a day against 467 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 53 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.4% of Elliott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

23 of the 53 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 11.3% 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 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-504 over LITTLE CANEY CREEK, built 1966, carries 392 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,105 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

7
1970s

11
1980s

7
1990s

5
2000s

7
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Elliott County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Elliott County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gallatin County	55	21.8%	74.5%	3.6%	1971
Owsley County	55	38.2%	58.2%	3.6%	1982
Larue County	54	55.6%	37%	7.4%	1981
Owen County	54	18.5%	77.8%	3.7%	1975
Elliott County (this page)	53	11.3%	73.6%	15.1%	1977
Jackson County	51	25.5%	64.7%	9.8%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (53 bridges here).

Cleburne County, AR · 53 bridges
Citrus County, FL · 53 bridges
Lumpkin County, GA · 53 bridges
Stewart County, GA · 53 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 53 Good 6 Fair 39 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (39)

Sort:

Elliott County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Elliott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,105 vehicle crossings a day

43.4% of Elliott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Elliott 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 (39)

CR-1158

CURT LYONS ROAD

JOHN ISON ROAD

CR-1223

WILBUR ISON ROAD

KY-702

CR 1206

STEGALL COLD SPRIN

NEWCOMBE CRK RD

RIGHT FRK SHEEPSKI

BEECH GROVE RD

KY-409

KY-486

WHITE CRK RD

KY-556

KY-486

KY-486

ELKHORN BRANCH RD

KY-557

Turner Rd Cr1234

KY-486

BEECH GROVE RD

KY 7

KY-7

KY-7

KY-706

KY-32

KY-650

KY-755

KY-7

KY-32

RIGHT FRK NEWCOMBE

KY-719

KY-32

SALYERS BR RD

KY-719

KY-1620

KY-504

KY 706

Related