County profile · official public datasets

Rockcastle County, KY

87 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.7% rated Good, 70.1% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

87
Public bridges: 20.7%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Rockcastle County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

91st
of 120 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 87
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Rockcastle County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rockcastle County ranks #91 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Rockcastle County, Kentucky contains 87 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.7% are rated “Good,” 70.1% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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 Rockcastle County

Good condition

20.7%

18 of 87 rated 7-9

Fair condition

70.1%

61 of 87 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

8 of 87 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#91 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 87 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

20.7% (18)

Fair

70.1% (61)

Poor

9.2% (8)

Rockcastle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 827 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 103 crossings a day against 9,319 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 87 of 87 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.5% of Rockcastle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

30 of the 87 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 20.7% 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 40.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-618 over BRUSHY CREEK, built 1950, carries 337 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 827 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

2
1940s

5
1950s

13
1960s

8
1970s

7
1980s

8
1990s

20
2000s

12
2010s

11
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 5 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Rockcastle County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rockcastle County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bath County	89	29.2%	66.3%	4.5%	1974
Boyd County	89	29.2%	61.8%	9%	1982
Boyle County	89	20.2%	76.4%	3.4%	1978
Crittenden County	89	38.2%	51.7%	10.1%	1972
Allen County	88	15.9%	78.4%	5.7%	1983
Rockcastle County (this page)	87	20.7%	70.1%	9.2%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (87 bridges here).

Modoc County, CA · 87 bridges
Hendry County, FL · 87 bridges
Adams County, ID · 87 bridges
Humboldt County, IA · 87 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 87 Good 18 Fair 61 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (61)

Sort:

Rockcastle County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rockcastle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 827 vehicle crossings a day

34.5% of Rockcastle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rockcastle 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 (61)

GRASSY BRANCH RD

Stephens Rd.

MCNEW CEMETERY RD

US-25

US-25

US-25

I-75

KY-1152

KY-1329

US-25

KY-1912

SYCAMORE ST

KY-1249

KY-1912

KY-1912

KY-1797

CHESTNUT RIDGE RD

OLD STATE RD

ANGLIN FALLS RD

CUT GAP RD

CONWAY SCHOOL RD

KY-1004

Heavenly Lane

FAIRVIEW LOOP RD

KY-70

MT ZION RD

FAIRVIEW LOOP RD

CHESTNUT GROVE RD

WHITE OAK BR. ROAD

US-25

KY-1004

OLD GAULEY RD

KY-490

COVE BRANCH RD

BUCKEYE RD

US-25

KY-70

WABD JONES ROAD

WABD JONES ROAD

Ft. Harrod Way

KY-70

Doc Adams Road

KY-1505

MEADOWLARK LANE

KY-3245

COPPER CREEK RD

MULLINS STATION RD

Mullins Station Rd

I-75

COPPER CREEK ROAD

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