County profile · official public datasets

Butler County, KS

591 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 59.2% rated Good, 34.7% Fair, 6.1% Poor.

591
Public bridges: 59.2%
Good condition: 6.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Butler 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.

68th
of 104 on Poor share: 6.1%
Poor-condition share: 591
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #68 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.1%). Butler County, Kansas contains 591 public highway bridges. Roughly 59.2% are rated “Good,” 34.7% “Fair,” and 6.1% “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

591

Public highway bridges in Butler County

Good condition

59.2%

350 of 591 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.7%

205 of 591 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.1%

36 of 591 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#68 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 591 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

59.2% (350)

Fair

34.7% (205)

Poor

6.1% (36)

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,697 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 334 crossings a day against 1,788 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 590 of 591 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.4% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

357 of the 591 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 59.2% 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 32.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SW Ohio St RS 74 over 604 (RS 1769), built 1960, carries 3,830 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 36-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,697 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

19
1910s

23
1920s

51
1930s

37
1940s

12
1950s

114
1960s

66
1970s

75
1980s

59
1990s

39
2000s

41
2010s

42
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 114 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 6 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Butler County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sumner County	659	50.2%	47.2%	2.6%	1978
Butler County (this page)	591	59.2%	34.7%	6.1%	1966
McPherson County	586	66.6%	32.8%	0.7%	1979
Reno County	573	51.8%	42.1%	6.1%	1980
Shawnee County	563	62.9%	34.1%	3%	1981
Lyon County	492	65.7%	33.3%	1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (591 bridges here).

Dane County, WI · 590 bridges
Comanche County, OK · 593 bridges
Tulare County, CA · 589 bridges
Knox County, TN · 588 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1966 here).

Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges
Osage County, OK · avg 1966 · 366 bridges

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

All 591 Good 350 Fair 205 Poor 36

Poor-condition bridges (36)

Sort:

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,697 vehicle crossings a day

60.4% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Butler 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

Poor-condition bridges (36)

SW 230th

SW Diamond Rd.

SW Tawakoni

NE Price

NW Buffalo Rd

LOCAL 20E8-29-6

SW Purity Springs

NW Santa Fe Lake

NW Butler Rd

NE Satchell Crk Rd

162ND ST.

NW 40th Street

SE Cole Creek Rd

SE Ellis Rd

NW 130th St.

SW 140th

NW 80th Street

NW Fall St

NW Shumway Rd

SW Haverhill

NW County Line Rd

SW 80th

SW 180th

SE Munson Hill

Topeka St

SE Flint Hills Rd

SE Teter Rd

SW Ohio St RS 74

SW 190th St

SE Gray Rd

SW 50th

SE 210th St

K900 PARKS ROUTE

SW Pickerel Rd

SW Hopkins Switch

SW Diamond

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