County profile · official public datasets

Scott County, KY

183 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.4% rated Good, 61.7% Fair, 9.8% Poor.

183
Public bridges: 28.4%
Good condition: 9.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Scott 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.

94th
of 120 on Poor share: 9.8%
Poor-condition share: 183
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Scott County ranks #94 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.8%). Scott County, Kentucky contains 183 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.4% are rated “Good,” 61.7% “Fair,” and 9.8% “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

183

Public highway bridges in Scott County

Good condition

28.4%

52 of 183 rated 7-9

Fair condition

61.7%

113 of 183 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.8%

18 of 183 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#94 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 183 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.4% (52)

Fair

61.7% (113)

Poor

9.8% (18)

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,188 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 955 crossings a day against 4,117 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 183 of 183 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.7% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 183 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 28.4% 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 55% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-620 over NS (CNO&TP) SYSTEM, built 1987, carries 9,461 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 17,188 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

5
1940s

1
1950s

9
1960s

17
1970s

14
1980s

25
1990s

71
2000s

27
2010s

8
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 71 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 7 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Scott County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Scott 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 (this page)	183	28.4%	61.7%	9.8%	1985
Pulaski County	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 Scott 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 Scott County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (183 bridges here).

St. Clair County, AL · 183 bridges
Richmond County, GA · 183 bridges
Marshall County, IN · 183 bridges
Appanoose County, IA · 183 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 183 Good 52 Fair 113 Poor 18

All bridges (183)

Sort:

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 17,188 vehicle crossings a day

25.7% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 55% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Scott 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 (183)

KY-2915

US-62

I 75 SOUTH

I-75 NORTH

KY-922

KY-32

I-75

I-75

LOCUST FORK RD

LOCUST FORK RD

KY-32

KY-608

I-75 SOUTH

I-75 NORTH

KY-1688

KY-922

US 25

US 25

KY-32

MCCLELLAND CIRCLE

MCCLELLAND CIRCLE

US 25

US 25

I-75 SOUTH BOUND

BURGESS SMITH RD

I-75 NORTHBOUND

KY-227

BURGESS SMITH RD

KY-32

US-460

BURGESS SMITH RD

KY-922

I-75 SOUTH

I-75 NORTH

ETTER LN

BURGESS SMITH RD

JOHNSON MILL RD

DAVIS-TURKEY FOOT

US-62

US 25

COPPAGE RD

US 62

MCCLELLAND CIRCLE

FINNELL PIKE

US 62

SB I-75

NB I-75

KY. HWY. 32

US-25

KY-1688

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