County profile · official public datasets

Clark County, KS

102 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.6% rated Good, 27.5% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

102
Public bridges: 69.6%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clark County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 102
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Clark County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clark County ranks #37 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Clark County, Kansas contains 102 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.6% are rated “Good,” 27.5% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

102

Public highway bridges in Clark County

Good condition

69.6%

71 of 102 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.5%

28 of 102 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

3 of 102 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 102 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

69.6% (71)

Fair

27.5% (28)

Poor

2.9% (3)

Clark County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,275 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 425 crossings a day against 408 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 102 of 102 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

67.6% of Clark County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 102 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 69.6% 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 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US160 HWY over BLUFF CREEK DRAINAGE, built 1930, carries 630 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 1,275 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

19
1940s

1
1950s

18
1960s

19
1970s

17
1980s

7
1990s

7
2000s

9
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Clark County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clark County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Gove County	109	45%	53.2%	1.8%	1968
Hodgeman County	109	44%	54.1%	1.8%	1963
Sherman County	105	69.5%	28.6%	1.9%	1969
Rawlins County	103	48.5%	36.9%	14.6%	1969
Clark County (this page)	102	69.6%	27.5%	2.9%	1968
Cheyenne County	100	47%	47%	6%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (102 bridges here).

La Plata County, CO · 102 bridges
Clarke County, GA · 102 bridges
Pulaski County, IN · 102 bridges
Sibley County, MN · 102 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 102 Good 71 Fair 28 Poor 3

All bridges (102)

Sort:

Clark County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clark County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,275 vehicle crossings a day

67.6% of Clark County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 49.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clark 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 (102)

RS 961 Rd Z

US183 HWY

RS 120 Rd 19

US54 HWY

US160 HWY

US283 HWY

US160 HWY

K34 HWY

US283 HWY

US-183 HWY

Rd L

Rd DD

RS 119 Angle Rd

Rd 19

US283 HWY

RS 120 Rd 19

RS 947 Rd G

Rd B

Rd 30

RS 121 Rd 21

RS 122 Rd M

RS 122 Rd M

RS 711 Rd M

RS 711 Rd M

RS 1337 Rd 18

Rd 7

Rd E

Rd A

Rd R

Rd B

US-160 HIGHWAY

US-160 HWY

US283 HWY

Rd 14

Rd E

Rd W

RS 962 Rd W

US-183 HWY

GG Road

US-183 HWY

RS 120 Rd 19

27 Road

US160 HWY

K34 HWY

Rd L

US160 HWY

US-160 HWY

US160 HWY

Rd B

US160 HWY

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