County profile · official public datasets

Whitley County, KY

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.8% rated Good, 69.1% Fair, 6% Poor.

149
Public bridges: 24.8%
Good condition: 6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 41%
lowest Poor share in state: 6%
Poor-condition share: 149
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Whitley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Whitley County ranks #49 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6%). Whitley County, Kentucky contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.8% are rated “Good,” 69.1% “Fair,” and 6% “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

149

Public highway bridges in Whitley County

Good condition

24.8%

37 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

69.1%

103 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 120

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24.8% (37)

Fair

69.1% (103)

Poor

6% (9)

Whitley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,914 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 324 crossings a day against 2,393 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 149 of 149 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.7% of Whitley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 149 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 24.8% 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 40.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-92 over CUMBERLAND RIVER, built 1937, carries 1,176 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,914 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

11
1940s

6
1950s

16
1960s

44
1970s

15
1980s

12
1990s

21
2000s

7
2010s

3
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Kentucky average (1978).

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

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Whitley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Whitley County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Muhlenberg County	152	12.5%	82.9%	4.6%	1967
Nelson County	151	40.4%	51.7%	7.9%	1974
Lewis County	149	28.9%	67.1%	4%	1982
Marion County	149	53%	39.6%	7.4%	1981
Whitley County (this page)	149	24.8%	69.1%	6%	1974
Barren County	147	12.9%	83.7%	3.4%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (149 bridges here).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Drew County, AR · 149 bridges
Madison County, AR · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 149 Good 37 Fair 103 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (103)

Sort:

Whitley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Whitley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,914 vehicle crossings a day

57.7% of Whitley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Whitley 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 (103)

I-75 SB (NC)

I-75 NB

KY-779

KY-2792

I-75 NC

I-75

I-75 NC

I-75

I-75

I-75 NC

I-75

I-75 NC

US-25W

I-75

KY-904

I-75 NC

I-75

KY-26

KY-904

BUCK CREEK ROAD

GEORGE HAYES

KY-478

KY-0296

I-75

I-75 NC

I-75

GORDON HILL 312

CR-1234 KESWICK RD

BLAKES FORK ROAD

I-75 NC

I-75

I-75 NC

I-75

BUCK CREEK ROAD

KY-296

KY-779

CRISCILLIS BRANCH

EATONTOWN SCHOOL R

REST AREA

US-25W

US-25W

779

KY-92

KY-204

DEAD MAN HOLLOW RO

KY-26

KY-904

KY-904

KY-90

I-75

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