County profile · official public datasets

Barber County, KS

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.8% rated Good, 53.9% Fair, 1.2% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 44.8%
Good condition: 1.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Barber County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.2%
Poor-condition share: 241
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.

Barber County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Barber County ranks #20 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.2%). Barber County, Kansas contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.8% are rated “Good,” 53.9% “Fair,” and 1.2% “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

241

Public highway bridges in Barber County

Good condition

44.8%

108 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.9%

130 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.2%

3 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 241 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.8% (108)

Fair

53.9% (130)

Poor

1.2% (3)

Barber County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 28 crossings a day against 434 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 241 of 241 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.2% of Barber County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

121 of the 241 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 44.8% 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 52.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Catalpa Road over SPRING CREEK, built 1939, carries 45 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 85 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

21
1940s

30
1950s

21
1960s

37
1970s

22
1980s

36
1990s

34
2000s

24
2010s

9
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.4% 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 Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Barber County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Barber County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Norton County	244	53.7%	44.3%	2%	1980
Osborne County	244	52.5%	40.2%	7.4%	1967
Wabaunsee County	242	36.8%	52.9%	10.3%	1963
Leavenworth County	241	61%	36.1%	2.9%	1981
Neosho County	241	60.2%	29.5%	10.4%	1969
Barber County (this page)	241	44.8%	53.9%	1.2%	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 Barber 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 Barber County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (241 bridges here).

Sumter County, AL · 241 bridges
Hardin County, IA · 241 bridges
Iowa County, IA · 241 bridges
Ingham County, MI · 241 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (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 241 Good 108 Fair 130 Poor 3

All bridges (241)

Sort:

Barber County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Barber County's Poor-condition bridges carry 85 vehicle crossings a day

50.2% of Barber County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 52.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Barber County compares with Kansas'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 (241)

Hartner Shortcut

Lake City Road

Sand Plum

Turkey Lane

RS 5014

Walstad

Little Mule Road

River Road

Rattlesnake Trail

Newkirk Road

K-2 HWY

Hackberry Road

Lasswell Rd

Catalpa Road

MINOR COL (30)

Bethel Road

Pleasant Hill

North Star Road

US-281 HWY

Hawkins

Hargis

Catalpa Road

North Star Road

Flower Pot Road

Rattlesnake Road

Rattlesnake Road

Cedar Hills

Lake City Road

Hargis Road

Scott Canyon

Currie Lane

Elm Mills Road

Elm Mills Road

Hackberry Road

Tri-City Road

Kanza Road

Gyp Hills Road

Hackberry Road

Little Mule Road

Lake City Road

River Road

2nd Ave.

Oak St.

Adams St.

Robie St.

River Road

Gerlane Road

K8 HWY

US160 HWY

US160 HWY

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