County profile · official public datasets

Taylor County, KY

92 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.4% rated Good, 42.4% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

92
Public bridges: 55.4%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Taylor County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 5%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 92
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Taylor County ranks #6 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Taylor County, Kentucky contains 92 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.4% are rated “Good,” 42.4% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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 Taylor County

Good condition

55.4%

51 of 92 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.4%

39 of 92 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

2 of 92 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 92 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.4% (51)

Fair

42.4% (39)

Poor

2.2% (2)

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,483 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,242 crossings a day against 1,386 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 92 of 92 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.8% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

32 of the 92 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 55.4% 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 98.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SOUTH COLUMBIA AVE over BUCKHORN CREEK, built 1946, carries 8,349 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,483 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

16
1960s

10
1970s

5
1980s

11
1990s

10
2000s

19
2010s

14
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 6 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Taylor County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Taylor County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Fulton County	95	26.3%	62.1%	11.6%	1965
Henry County	94	22.3%	64.9%	12.8%	1979
Pendleton County	94	34%	61.7%	4.3%	1977
Cumberland County	93	22.6%	72%	5.4%	1981
Taylor County (this page)	92	55.4%	42.4%	2.2%	1984
Breckinridge County	91	37.4%	54.9%	7.7%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (92 bridges here).

Douglas County, GA · 92 bridges
Waldo County, ME · 92 bridges
Camden County, MO · 92 bridges
Stillwater County, MT · 92 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 92 Good 51 Fair 39 Poor 2

All bridges (92)

Sort:

Taylor County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Taylor County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,483 vehicle crossings a day

34.8% of Taylor County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 98.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Taylor 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 (92)

Jones Creek Road

KY-3211

KY-70

KY-424

KY-1252

WAYNE RD

HENRY LEE RD

MT. CARMEL CHURCH

Long Branch Rd.

PITMAN CREEK RD

KY-323

KY-210

Wise Rd

KY-3350

Dotson Rd.

OLD GREENSBURG RD

KY-210

FEATHERCREEK RD

Dotson Rd.

Salem Church Rd

CHANEY PIKE RD

W. OWL CREEK RD.

FAIRVIEW RD

KY 55

MERRIMAC RD

N. CENTRAL AVE.

KY-70

MALONE RD OTHER

Raikes Hill Rd.

Merrimac-Peck Rd.

Gwinn Lane

Merrimac Rd.

South Jackson St.

KY-210

Cat Hollow Rd.

KY 323 West Main

Kindness Rd.

Kindness Rd.

OLD GREENSBURG RD

_KY-70

SOUTH COLUMBIA AVE

COURT ST

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