County profile · official public datasets

Bourbon County, KS

206 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.2% rated Good, 42.2% Fair, 15.5% Poor.

206
Public bridges: 42.2%
Good condition: 15.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Bourbon 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.

103rd
of 104 on Poor share: 15.5%
Poor-condition share: 206
public highway bridges: 1962
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.

Bourbon County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bourbon County ranks #103 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.5%). Bourbon County, Kansas contains 206 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.2% are rated “Good,” 42.2% “Fair,” and 15.5% “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

206

Public highway bridges in Bourbon County

Good condition

42.2%

87 of 206 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.2%

87 of 206 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.5%

32 of 206 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#103 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 206 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.2% (87)

Fair

42.2% (87)

Poor

15.5% (32)

Bourbon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,814 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 119 crossings a day against 1,559 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 206 of 206 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.1% of Bourbon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

128 of the 206 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 42.2% 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 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

K39 HWY over OWL CREEK, built 1933, carries 995 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,814 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

31
1930s

35
1940s

5
1950s

19
1960s

30
1970s

17
1980s

29
1990s

14
2000s

17
2010s

5
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1962, 10 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Bourbon County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bourbon County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ford County	223	50.2%	49.8%	0%	1972
Bourbon County (this page)	206	42.2%	42.2%	15.5%	1962
Wilson County	205	34.6%	53.2%	12.2%	1959
Atchison County	197	41.6%	48.7%	9.6%	1969
Jefferson County	194	52.1%	43.8%	4.1%	1975
Chase County	189	48.1%	45%	6.9%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (206 bridges here).

Dale County, AL · 206 bridges
Henry County, IN · 206 bridges
Audubon County, IA · 206 bridges
Pemiscot County, MO · 206 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1962 here).

Berks County, PA · avg 1962 · 667 bridges
Pecos County, TX · avg 1962 · 470 bridges
Bristol County, MA · avg 1962 · 384 bridges
Norfolk County, MA · avg 1962 · 343 bridges

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

All 206 Good 87 Fair 87 Poor 32

Fair-condition bridges (87)

Sort:

Bourbon County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bourbon County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,814 vehicle crossings a day

62.1% of Bourbon County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bourbon 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

Fair-condition bridges (87)

RS 1198

215TH ST. RS 2130

Minor 9.5-N.0

LOCAL 9.7-N.5

LOCAL 9.9-P.0

MINOR 10.3-S.0

Local 11.6-O.0

LOCAL 13.9-O.0

LOCAL 15.5-K.4

Local 16.0-D.9

LOCAL 18.8-J.5

Local 20.0-X.2

Local 21.5-L.5

Local 23.1-M.0

US-69 & K-7 HWYS

K3 HWY

125TH ST. RS 51

POPLAR RD. RS 1196

120TH ST. RS 51

K3 HWY

LOCAL 2.0-Q.0

Local 25.0-1.0

K3 HWY

Local 13.9-D.0

Minor 17.3-B.0

K39 HWY

US54 HWY

Local 21.3-E.0

K7 HWY

K65 HWY

MINOR 1.3-Q.4

Local 26.0-Y.1

Local 17.0-D.0

Minor 18.0-Y.0

LOCAL 9.7-U.0

SB US69 HWY

K39 HWY

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