County profile · official public datasets

Pulaski County, KY

182 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.8% rated Good, 74.7% Fair, 5.5% Poor.

182
Public bridges: 19.8%
Good condition: 5.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 34%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.5%
Poor-condition share: 182
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.

Pulaski County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pulaski County ranks #41 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.5%). Pulaski County, Kentucky contains 182 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.8% are rated “Good,” 74.7% “Fair,” and 5.5% “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

182

Public highway bridges in Pulaski County

Good condition

19.8%

36 of 182 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.7%

136 of 182 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.5%

10 of 182 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 182 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.8% (36)

Fair

74.7% (136)

Poor

5.5% (10)

Pulaski County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,362 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 636 crossings a day against 2,784 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 182 of 182 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.3% of Pulaski County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 182 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 19.8% 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 30.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-196 over LITTLE WHITE OAK CREEK, built 1989, carries 1,954 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 6,362 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

9
1940s

15
1950s

26
1960s

12
1970s

30
1980s

15
1990s

22
2000s

33
2010s

15
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 33 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 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Pulaski County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pulaski County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carter County	189	21.2%	72.5%	6.3%	1974
Henderson County	184	8.2%	87%	4.9%	1978
Scott County	183	28.4%	61.7%	9.8%	1985
Pulaski County (this page)	182	19.8%	74.7%	5.5%	1980
Letcher County	179	36.3%	52.5%	11.2%	1981
Perry County	176	42%	53.4%	4.5%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (182 bridges here).

Logan County, CO · 182 bridges
Ida County, IA · 182 bridges
Wright County, IA · 182 bridges
Jackson County, MN · 182 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 182 Good 36 Fair 136 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (136)

Sort:

Pulaski County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pulaski County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,362 vehicle crossings a day

47.3% of Pulaski County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pulaski 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 (136)

MCLIN LN

CAVE SPGS RD

KY-804

Shelton CK Forest

KY 2292

GOOCHTOWN RD

ECHO PT RD

CHARLES ELGIN RD

POINTER CRK RD

WOLF CRK RD

SINKS ROAD

WARNER RD

OLD WAYNESBURG RD

KEENEY RD-NORWOOD

COLEMAN RD

PLEASANT PT RD

WESLEY WARREN RD

EAST FROG HOLLOW R

WEST COLUMBIA ST

KY-1675

KY 2227

PLATO-VANHOOK RD

KY-1317

KY-80

KY-3262

KY-2993

LOUIE B. NUNN CUMB

LN-9008

BEECHER ST

KY-3268

FINLEY OWENS RD

KY-328

KY-3267

HYDEN LN

KY-192

KY-1003

KY-635

KY 90

Old Burnside Rd.

US-27

KY-80

KY-452

ELIHU-CABIN HOLW R

KY-934

KY-635

ROBERTS PORT RD

Norwood Mt Zion RD

SILVER STAR RD

KY-3268

ROBERTS PORT RD

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