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.

Total bridges

134

Public highway bridges in Knott County

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.

1920s

5
1930s

15
1940s

6
1950s

18
1960s

7
1970s

16
1980s

13
1990s

4
2000s

10
2010s

5
2020s

35

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Knott County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 134 Good 48 Fair 69 Poor 17

All bridges (134)

Sort:

Knott County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Knott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,944 vehicle crossings a day

43.3% of Knott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Knott 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

All bridges (134)

Collins Branch Rd

Dukies Lane

Wiley Fork Road

Sly Branch

Hemp Patch Br

Goldenrod Drive

Jewell Lane

KY 3209

Frankie Jane Drive

KY-899

KY-3392

Dry Creek Rd

KY-899

KY-1098

Hollybush Road

SASSAFRAS CREEK RD

Soft Shell Lane

Old Garner Rd Conn

SLONE BR

Big Doubles Br

John Hall Rd

Fieldwood Dr

Upper Mill Creek

Sarah Everage Br

Rowdy Hollow

Walkers Branch Rd

KY-7

KY-3391

WOLFPEN CREEK RD

KY-1088

KY-1102

Starfire Haul Road

Freedom Rd

Martin Branch Rd

Related