County profile · official public datasets

Chase County, KS

189 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.1% rated Good, 45% Fair, 6.9% Poor.

189
Public bridges: 48.1%
Good condition: 6.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Chase 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.

72nd
of 104 on Poor share: 6.9%
Poor-condition share: 189
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Chase County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chase County ranks #72 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.9%). Chase County, Kansas contains 189 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.1% are rated “Good,” 45% “Fair,” and 6.9% “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

189

Public highway bridges in Chase County

Good condition

48.1%

91 of 189 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45%

85 of 189 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.9%

13 of 189 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 189 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.1% (91)

Fair

45% (85)

Poor

6.9% (13)

Chase County's Poor-condition bridges carry 120,864 vehicle crossings a day

That is 39.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 9,297 crossings a day against 1,695 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 188 of 189 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.4% of Chase County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 189 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 48.1% 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 99.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 92 over COLLET CREEK, built 1955, carries 120,128 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 120,864 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

3
1920s

10
1930s

37
1940s

14
1950s

29
1960s

21
1970s

17
1980s

12
1990s

18
2000s

9
2010s

12
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 8 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Chase County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1966 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chase County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bourbon County	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 (this page)	189	48.1%	45%	6.9%	1964
Morris County	179	33%	54.2%	12.8%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (189 bridges here).

Butler County, AL · 189 bridges
Chilton County, AL · 189 bridges
Jasper County, IN · 189 bridges
Carter County, KY · 189 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Ross County, OH · avg 1964 · 356 bridges

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

All 189 Good 91 Fair 85 Poor 13

All bridges (189)

Sort:

Chase County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chase County's Poor-condition bridges carry 120,864 vehicle crossings a day

61.4% of Chase County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 99.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chase 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 (189)

15.8-N.3 LOCAL RD.

20-B.8 MINOR COL

K177 HWY

K177 HWY

K 177

RS 1918

200TH RD

US-50 HWY

US-50 HWY

U.4-14.8 LOCAL RD.

US-50 HWY

K 177

RS 93

17.5-F.1 LOCAL RD.

I35 HWY (KTA)EL-WL

19.5-L.7 MINOR COL

US-50 HWY

US-50 HWY

50th RD 27-C.9

US-50 HWY

SIDEROAD LEFT

US-50 HWY

B Road Left

G.4-10.1 LOCAL RD.

US-50 HWY

US-50 HWY

19-A2 LOCAL RD.

F.7-15.2 LOCAL RD.

Y-13.7 MINOR COL

RS 92

18-C LOCAL RD.

RS 92

RS 93

RS 92

RS 1077

17.2-N.5 LOCAL RD.

10-U.1 MINOR COL

17.5-R.4 LOCAL RD.

15.2-H.1 LOCAL RD.

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