County profile · official public datasets

Knox County, KY

127 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.7% rated Good, 72.4% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

127
Public bridges: 19.7%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 120 on Poor share: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 127
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Knox County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Knox County ranks #72 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Knox County, Kentucky contains 127 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.7% are rated “Good,” 72.4% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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

127

Public highway bridges in Knox County

Good condition

19.7%

25 of 127 rated 7-9

Fair condition

72.4%

92 of 127 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

10 of 127 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 127 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.7% (25)

Fair

72.4% (92)

Poor

7.9% (10)

Knox County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,796 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 380 crossings a day against 828 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 127 of 127 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37% of Knox County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 127 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 19.7% 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 31% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-229 over BIG RICHLAND CREEK, built 1950, carries 1,177 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,796 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

10
1950s

16
1960s

10
1970s

23
1980s

13
1990s

16
2000s

12
2010s

13
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Knox County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Knox County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Laurel County	131	22.1%	73.3%	4.6%	1976
Campbell County	130	33.1%	59.2%	7.7%	1979
Rowan County	130	34.6%	60.8%	4.6%	1981
Union County	127	21.3%	70.9%	7.9%	1972
Knox County (this page)	127	19.7%	72.4%	7.9%	1979
Breathitt County	124	44.4%	48.4%	7.3%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (127 bridges here).

Yuba County, CA · 127 bridges
Jefferson County, ID · 127 bridges
Harrison County, IN · 127 bridges
Vermillion County, IN · 127 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 127 Good 25 Fair 92 Poor 10

All bridges (127)

Sort:

Knox County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Knox County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,796 vehicle crossings a day

37% of Knox County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Knox 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 (127)

KY-11

KY-6

KY-233

KY-229

KY-1803

KY-223

KY-233

KY-3439

NOEVILLE HOLLOW RD

KY-233

KY-1809

Little Brush Ck Rd

KY-225

SOUTH US 25

US-25E

WALKER RD

US-25E

CR-1029

BLACK LICK RD

SOUTH US 25E

KY-11

KY-1304

MORRIS LANE

KY 830

KY-3436

KY 3041

KY-11

SALT GUM HOLLOW RD

RIGHT FORK EAST CR

WALKER RD

SOUTH US HIGHWAY 2

KY-225

SOUTH US 25E

US-25E

SOUTH US 25E

US-25E

US-25E

TOWER RD

HAMMONS FORK RD

FOUR MILE HOLLOW R

830

CR-1216

CR1305F BaileyHolw

KY-6

KY 11

KY-225

Spider Creek Road

Burton Branch Rd

East Bennett Brch

KY-2418

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