County profile · official public datasets

Cherokee County, KS

317 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.6% rated Good, 53% Fair, 4.4% Poor.

317
Public bridges: 42.6%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cherokee 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.

55th
of 104 on Poor share: 4.4%
Poor-condition share: 317
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Cherokee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cherokee County ranks #55 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.4%). Cherokee County, Kansas contains 317 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.6% are rated “Good,” 53% “Fair,” and 4.4% “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

317

Public highway bridges in Cherokee County

Good condition

42.6%

135 of 317 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53%

168 of 317 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.4%

14 of 317 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#55 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 317 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.6% (135)

Fair

53% (168)

Poor

4.4% (14)

Cherokee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,036 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 74 crossings a day against 2,024 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 317 of 317 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.4% of Cherokee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

185 of the 317 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 42.6% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

E Boston Mills over SHAWNEE CREEK, built 1942, carries 310 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,036 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

13
1930s

78
1940s

13
1950s

18
1960s

38
1970s

33
1980s

27
1990s

41
2000s

27
2010s

13
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 78 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 5 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Cherokee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cherokee County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Miami County	326	64.7%	31.9%	3.4%	1974
Marion County	324	39.2%	51.2%	9.6%	1959
Cherokee County (this page)	317	42.6%	53%	4.4%	1967
Wyandotte County	315	62.5%	34.6%	2.9%	1980
Cloud County	314	52.5%	40.8%	6.7%	1961
Douglas County	314	78%	21.3%	0.6%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (317 bridges here).

Gwinnett County, GA · 317 bridges
St. Landry County, LA · 317 bridges
Washington County, MS · 317 bridges
Van Wert County, OH · 317 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 317 Good 135 Fair 168 Poor 14

Fair-condition bridges (168)

Sort:

Cherokee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cherokee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,036 vehicle crossings a day

58.4% of Cherokee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cherokee 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 (168)

NE 80th St.

NE 90th

E Star

Star Valley Rd.

Liberty Rd.

NE 100th

Front St

SW 90th

SE 70th St

NE 50th

W Belleview Rd.

SW 50th

NW 100th

E Clem

Scammon Rd.

SW 50th

120 Rd

SE 70th St

E Lostine

Lostine Rd.

NW 20th

RS 1367

SE 20th

US166 HWY

Wier Rd.

Costine Rd

W 120th Rd/minor

90th Rd

Hallowell/minor

NE 88th

SE 70th St

K-26 HWY

W Star Rd

HALLOWELL (OLD 96)

Bellview Rd

W Bellview

SE 20th

NE 110th

W Scammon Rd.

E Scammon Rd.

E Boston Mills Rd.

MINOR COL C-12.8

NW 110th

NW 100th

W Coalfield

W Coal Valley

W Greenlawn Rd.

W Clem Rd.

W Greenlawn

SW 50th

Related