County profile · official public datasets

Webster County, KY

144 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 9% rated Good, 80.6% Fair, 10.4% Poor.

144
Public bridges: 9%
Good condition: 10.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

96th
of 120 on Poor share: 10.4%
Poor-condition share: 144
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Webster County ranks #96 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.4%). Webster County, Kentucky contains 144 public highway bridges. Roughly 9% are rated “Good,” 80.6% “Fair,” and 10.4% “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

144

Public highway bridges in Webster County

Good condition

13 of 144 rated 7-9

Fair condition

80.6%

116 of 144 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.4%

15 of 144 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#96 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 144 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

9% (13)

Fair

80.6% (116)

Poor

10.4% (15)

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,892 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 526 crossings a day against 331 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 144 of 144 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.2% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 144 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 9% 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 42.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-56 over BR OF MOCK ROY CREEK, built 1963, carries 3,375 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,892 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

8
1930s

12
1940s

13
1950s

20
1960s

22
1970s

11
1980s

28
1990s

11
2000s

6
2010s

10
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 9 years older than the Kentucky average of 1978.

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Webster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Webster County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lewis County	149	28.9%	67.1%	4%	1982
Barren County	147	12.9%	83.7%	3.4%	1974
Webster County (this page)	144	9%	80.6%	10.4%	1969
Adair County	143	17.5%	74.8%	7.7%	1975
Casey County	143	14.7%	77.6%	7.7%	1976
Kenton County	142	39.4%	52.8%	7.7%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (144 bridges here).

Muscatine County, IA · 144 bridges
Anderson County, KS · 144 bridges
Muskegon County, MI · 144 bridges
Tishomingo County, MS · 144 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 144 Good 13 Fair 116 Poor 15

All bridges (144)

Sort:

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,892 vehicle crossings a day

54.2% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Webster 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 (144)

KY-109

KY-109

KY-983

KY-857

US-41

BELLVILLE ROAD

VANDERBURG LISMAN

DONAHOO ROAD

WILLIAMS CLAY ROAD

EAST WEBSTER ST

KY-132

KY-147

KY-293

KY-293

KY-293

KY-132

KY-983

KY-857

KY-132

KY-138

KY-2087

KY-120

KY-2838

US-41

CR1059 Jack Allen

KY-132

SMITH BRANTLEY RD

SLAUGHTERS ELMWOOD

KY-2667

KY-1405

KY-270

KY-120

CR1001 Asher Rd.

I 69

I-69

SECOND CROSS STREE

KY-1340

US-41A

KY-132

LITTLE ZION TILDEN

KY 283

EDWARD T. BREATHIT

EB-9004

WAGGONER CHURCH CR

SLOVER CREEK RD.

PICAS AUSTIN ROAD

KY-1835

KY-983

EDWARD T. BREATHIT

EB-9004

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