County profile · official public datasets

Atchison County, KS

197 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.6% rated Good, 48.7% Fair, 9.6% Poor.

197
Public bridges
41.6%
Good condition
9.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

89th
of 104 on Poor share
9.6%
Poor-condition share
197
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.

Atchison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Atchison County ranks #89 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.6%). Atchison County, Kansas contains 197 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.6% are rated “Good,” 48.7% “Fair,” and 9.6% “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

197

Public highway bridges in Atchison County

Good condition

41.6%

82 of 197 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.7%

96 of 197 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.6%

19 of 197 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#89 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 197 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
41.6% (82)
Fair
48.7% (96)
Poor
9.6% (19)

Atchison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,492 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 394 crossings a day against 587 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 197 of 197 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

52.8% of Atchison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

104 of the 197 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 41.6% 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 37.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-59 HWY over RS1290, built 1955, carries 2,830 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,492 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Atchison County's bridges were built

197 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Kansas average (1972).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Atchison County compares with Kansas's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Atchison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 103 Kansas counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Atchison County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Bourbon County 206 15.5%
Wilson County 205 12.2%
Atchison County (this page) 197 9.6%
Jefferson County 194 4.1%
Chase County 189 6.9%
Morris County 179 12.8%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (197 bridges here).

Similar average build year

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

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

All 197 Good 82 Fair 96 Poor 19

Poor-condition bridges (19)

LOCAL RD. 25.3-H.1

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO MISSOURI RIVER

2.6S 0.4E OF ATCHISON, Atchison, KS

Built 1920 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 30

LOCAL RD. G-9.8

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO STRANGER CREEK

1.0S 0.2W OF EFFINGHAM, Atchison, KS

Built 1928 Load: 5.4 t ADT: 5

LOCAL RD. 16.9-N.7

Poor

Over: INDEPENDENCE CREEK

1.2S 4.1E OF HURON, Atchison, KS

Built 1950 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 5

LOCAL RD. 2-B.9

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO DELAWARE RIVER

1.1S 1.0W OF ARRINGTON, Atchison, KS

Built 1933 Load: 6.2 t ADT: 10

Kiowa Rd. 16.9-N.5

Poor

Over: STREAM

2.9N 1.5E OF LANCASTER, Atchison, KS

Built 1920 Load: 6.2 t ADT: 5

LOCAL RD. C-6.6

Poor

Over: COAL CREEK

1.0S 3.6E OF ARRINGTON, Atchison, KS

Built 1936 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 15

LOCAL RD. G-3.2

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO DELEWARE RIVER

3.0N 0.2E OF ARRINGTON, Atchison, KS

Built 1920 Load: 8.5 t ADT: 5

RS 28

Poor

Over: DEER CREEK

3.5N OF ATCHISON, Atchison, KS

Built 1917 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 39

LOCAL RD. C-6.4

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO COAL CREEK

1.0S 3.4E OF ARRINGTON, Atchison, KS

Built 1936 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 15

RS 19

Poor

Over: STREAM

1.2S OF EFFINGHAM, Atchison, KS

Built 1920 Load: 15.3 t ADT: 854

LOCAL RD. 29.8-C.5

Poor

Over: Trib. to Walnut Creek

1.5N.W. of Oak Mills, Atchison, KS

Built 1948 Load: 16.6 t ADT: 5

RS 2105

Poor

Over: WALNUT CREEK

3.5S OF ATCHISON, Atchison, KS

Built 1922 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 108

US73 K7 HWY

Poor

Over: WALNUT CREEK DRAINAGE

5.84 MI S OF73/-59 JCT, Atchison, KS

Built 1969 Load: 24.8 t ADT: 2,650

LOCAL RD. 15.4-N.6

Poor

Over: TRIB. INDEPENDENCE CK.

3.6N OF LANCASTER, Atchison, KS

Built 1920 Load: 25.5 t ADT: 15

LOCAL RD. 23-I.9

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO WALNUT CREEK

0.8S 1.5W OF ATCHISON, Atchison, KS

Built 1940 Load: 26.4 t ADT: 40

US-59 HWY

Poor

Over: RS1290

5.80 MI NE K116, Atchison, KS

Built 1955 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 2,830

RS 1290

Poor

Over: STREAM

3.5E 1.5S OF SHANNON, Atchison, KS

Built 1936 Load: 31.2 t ADT: 440

RS 23

Poor

Over: STREAM

0.5E OF ST. PATS, Atchison, KS

Built 1961 Load: 36.9 t ADT: 85

"U" STREET

Poor

Over: US73 K7 HWY

0.52 MI S OF73/-59 JCT, Atchison, KS

Built 1970 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 336

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.