County profile · official public datasets

Estill County, KY

56 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.5% rated Good, 51.8% Fair, 10.7% Poor.

56
Public bridges: 37.5%
Good condition: 10.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

98th
of 120 on Poor share: 10.7%
Poor-condition share: 56
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.

Estill County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Estill County ranks #98 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.7%). Estill County, Kentucky contains 56 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.5% are rated “Good,” 51.8% “Fair,” and 10.7% “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 Estill County

Good condition

37.5%

21 of 56 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.8%

29 of 56 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.7%

6 of 56 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#98 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 56 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.5% (21)

Fair

51.8% (29)

Poor

10.7% (6)

Estill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,999 vehicle crossings a day

That is 14.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,667 crossings a day against 955 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 56 of 56 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.1% of Estill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

23 of the 56 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 37.5% 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 82.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-52 over DROWNING CREEK, built 1957, carries 8,228 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,999 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

5
1940s

2
1950s

9
1960s

2
1970s

9
1980s

7
1990s

7
2000s

4
2010s

8
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 9 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Estill County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Estill County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jessamine County	58	24.1%	74.1%	1.7%	1980
Green County	57	59.6%	28.1%	12.3%	1979
Hart County	57	43.9%	54.4%	1.8%	1980
Estill County (this page)	56	37.5%	51.8%	10.7%	1977
Gallatin County	55	21.8%	74.5%	3.6%	1971
Owsley County	55	38.2%	58.2%	3.6%	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 Estill 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 Estill County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (56 bridges here).

Warren County, GA · 56 bridges
Brown County, NE · 56 bridges
Summit County, CO · 57 bridges
DeSoto County, FL · 57 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 56 Good 21 Fair 29 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (29)

Sort:

Estill County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Estill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,999 vehicle crossings a day

41.1% of Estill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 82.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Estill 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 (29)

DRIFTWOOD DR

KY-89

KY-52

CR-1017

Locust Branch #2

KY-89

Ky 499

KY-89

KY-1645

KY-89

KY-594

PATSY RD

SANG BR

NOLAND CREEK RD

Sweet Lick road

CR 1224 Knob Lick

KY-594

KY-89

Kissey br. CR 1217

KY-52

KY-52

KY-82

Burton Williams

KY-1705

Coal cem Rd

PITTS RD

KY-52

KY-1571

KY-499

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