Total bridges
134
Public highway bridges in Knott County
County profile · official public datasets
Knott County, KY
134 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.8% rated Good, 51.5% Fair, 12.7% Poor.
- 134
- Public bridges
- 35.8%
- Good condition
- 12.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Knott County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 109th
- of 120 on Poor share
- 12.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 134
- public highway bridges
- 1981
- 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.
Knott County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Knott County ranks #109 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.7%). Knott County, Kentucky contains 134 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.8% are rated “Good,” 51.5% “Fair,” and 12.7% “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.
Good condition
35.8%
48 of 134 rated 7-9
Fair condition
51.5%
69 of 134 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.7%
17 of 134 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#109 of 120
Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 134 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.8% (48)
Fair 51.5% (69)
Poor 12.7% (17)
Knott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,944 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 350 crossings a day against 445 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 134 of 134 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
43.3% of Knott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
58 of the 134 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 35.8% 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 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
KY-1088 over Yellow Creek, built 1927, carries 1,076 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 5,944 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Knott County's bridges were built
134 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
15 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s 7
1960–1969
7 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
16 bridges
- 1980s 13
1980–1989
13 bridges
- 1990s 4
1990–1999
4 bridges
- 2000s 10
2000–2009
10 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
35 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2020s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.1% of those with a recorded year. Those records fall in the current decade of the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Kentucky average (1978).
How Knott County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Knott County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 119 Kentucky counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boone County | 138 | 40.6% | 55.1% | 4.3% | 1981 |
| Shelby County | 137 | 10.2% | 81.8% | 8% | 1982 |
| Lincoln County | 136 | 13.2% | 83.8% | 2.9% | 1976 |
| Logan County | 135 | 17.8% | 78.5% | 3.7% | 1978 |
| Knott County (this page) | 134 | 35.8% | 51.5% | 12.7% | 1981 |
| Laurel County | 131 | 22.1% | 73.3% | 4.6% | 1976 |
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 Knott 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 Knott County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside KY (134 bridges here).
- Anchorage County, AK · 134 bridges
- Murray County, MN · 134 bridges
- Steele County, MN · 134 bridges
- Lawrence County, MS · 134 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (17)
Old Garner Rd Conn
PoorOver: Left Frk Troublesome Crk
At Owens Branch Rd, Knott, KY
Built 1928 Load: 0.1 t ADT: 50
SLONE BR
PoorOver: CANEY FORK CREEK
SLONE BRANCH, Knott, KY
Built 2001 Load: 0.1 t ADT: 819
Big Doubles Br
PoorOver: Little Carr Fork
0.05 MI S of KY 1410@Bath, Knott, KY
Built 1940 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 129
John Hall Rd
PoorOver: Right Frk Beaver Crk
0.01 MI SW of JCT KY 7, Knott, KY
Built 1980 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 60
Fieldwood Dr
PoorOver: R Frk Troublesome Crk
0.03 MI S of JCT KY 160, Knott, KY
Built 1975 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 60
Upper Mill Creek
PoorOver: Mill Creek
0.25 MI SE of JCT KY 550, Knott, KY
Built 1930 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 622
Sarah Everage Br
PoorOver: Troublesome Creek
@ JCT KY 550, Knott, KY
Built 1986 Load: 13.2 t ADT: 161
Rowdy Hollow
PoorOver: Carr Fork
200 N of JCT KY 15, Knott, KY
Built 1960 Load: 14.1 t ADT: 85
Walkers Branch Rd
PoorOver: Troublesome Creek
0.5 MI SW JCT KY 550/3392, Knott, KY
Built 1955 Load: 16.4 t ADT: 55
KY-7
PoorOver: ARNOLD FORK
.10 MI N OF JCT KY 1498, Knott, KY
Built 1947 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 572
KY-3391
PoorOver: RIGHT FK TROUBLESOME CRK
.1 MI SW OF JCT KY 160, Knott, KY
Built 1975 Load: 18.6 t ADT: 1,071
WOLFPEN CREEK RD
PoorOver: LITTLE CARR FORK
@ JCT KY 1410, Knott, KY
Built 1940 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 110
KY-1088
PoorOver: Yellow Creek
@ Perry Co Line, Knott, KY
Built 1927 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 1,076
KY-1102
PoorOver: Montgomery Creek
0.58 MI N of JCT KY 550, Knott, KY
Built 1977 Load: 27.8 t ADT: 474
Starfire Haul Road
PoorOver: Balls Fork
@ JCT of KY 1087, Knott, KY
Built 1980 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 134
Freedom Rd
PoorOver: Caney Fork
0.1 MI S of KY 899 @RAVEN, Knott, KY
Built 1981 Load: 29.1 t ADT: 124
Martin Branch Rd
PoorOver: Jones Fork
150 SE of JCT KY 550, Knott, KY
Built 1987 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 342
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.