County profile · official public datasets

McCreary County, KY

39 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.5% rated Good, 64.1% Fair, 15.4% Poor.

39
Public bridges: 20.5%
Good condition: 15.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

117th
of 120 on Poor share: 15.4%
Poor-condition share: 39
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

McCreary County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McCreary County ranks #117 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.4%). McCreary County, Kentucky contains 39 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.5% are rated “Good,” 64.1% “Fair,” and 15.4% “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 McCreary County

Good condition

20.5%

8 of 39 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.1%

25 of 39 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.4%

6 of 39 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#117 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 39 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

20.5% (8)

Fair

64.1% (25)

Poor

15.4% (6)

McCreary County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,259 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 710 crossings a day against 145 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 39 of 39 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.5% of McCreary County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

15 of the 39 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 20.5% 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 80.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-1651 over NS (CNO&TP) SYS @ WHTLY, built 1956, carries 3,418 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 4,259 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

4
1970s

5
1980s

5
1990s

3
2000s

8
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest McCreary County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for McCreary County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Russell County	46	21.7%	69.6%	8.7%	1974
Trimble County	44	11.4%	79.5%	9.1%	1985
Lee County	42	35.7%	57.1%	7.1%	1977
Clinton County	41	17.1%	75.6%	7.3%	1971
Edmonson County	39	12.8%	74.4%	12.8%	1969
McCreary County (this page)	39	20.5%	64.1%	15.4%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (39 bridges here).

Costilla County, CO · 39 bridges
Ouray County, CO · 39 bridges
Missaukee County, MI · 39 bridges
Perquimans County, NC · 39 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 39 Good 8 Fair 25 Poor 6

All bridges (39)

Sort:

McCreary County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

McCreary County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,259 vehicle crossings a day

38.5% of McCreary County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How McCreary 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 (39)

KY-92

MUD CUT RD

KY-927

KY-1470

KY-742

KY-1651

KY-700

KY-92

KY-927

KY-1651

KY-92

KY-92

CO-OP CHURCH RD

KY-1044

KY-896

KY-1045

KY-1651

KY-478

KINGTOWN RD

NEW LIBERTY RD

ROCK CRK RD

CORDER FLATS RD

BEAR CRK RD

KY-1651

KY-3253

Rock Creek Road

ROUND TOP CH. RD

BEECH GROVE RD

ROCK CRK RD

KY-700

ROCK CRK RD

KY-478

KY 1044

WIBORG LOOP RD

WOLF CREEK RD

KY-1470

KY-1045

JELLICO CREEK RD

KY-1651

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