County profile · official public datasets

Clay County, KS

231 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.9% rated Good, 42.9% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

231
Public bridges
51.9%
Good condition
5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

60th
of 104 on Poor share
5.2%
Poor-condition share
231
public highway bridges
1970
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.

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clay County ranks #60 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Clay County, Kansas contains 231 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.9% are rated “Good,” 42.9% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

231

Public highway bridges in Clay County

Good condition

51.9%

120 of 231 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.9%

99 of 231 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

12 of 231 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#60 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 231 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
51.9% (120)
Fair
42.9% (99)
Poor
5.2% (12)

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,145 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 512 crossings a day against 322 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 231 of 231 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.2% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

146 of the 231 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 51.9% 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 30.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US24 HWY over LINCOLN CREEK DRAINAGE, built 1965, carries 1,880 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,145 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Clay County's bridges were built

231 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Kansas average (1972).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Clay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clay County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Greenwood County 235 21.3%
Clay County (this page) 231 5.2%
Allen County 227 11%
Lincoln County 225 10.2%
Riley County 224 5.4%
Ford County 223 0%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (231 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1970 here).

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

All 231 Good 120 Fair 99 Poor 12

Good-condition bridges (120)

RS 130

Good

Over: MALL CREEK

1.0E 7.0N OF WAKEFIELD, Clay, KS

Built 2003 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 1,185

RS 794

Good

Over: BASKET CREEK

1.5N 2.7W OF INDUSTRY, Clay, KS

Built 2006 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 70

LOCAL 13.0-O.9

Good

Over: FINNEY CREEK

1.0N 2.0E OF CLAY CENTER, Clay, KS

Built 2010 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 50

LOCAL P.0-7.5

Good

Over: TRIB TO SPRING CREEK

3.0N 5.0W OF GREEN, Clay, KS

Built 1910 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 10

RS 124 R.0-19.5

Good

Over: REPUBLICAN RIVER

2.0W 6.0N OF WAKEFIELD, Clay, KS

Built 2003 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 360

LOCAL M.5-13.9

Good

Over: DRY CREEK

0.5W OF CLAY CENTER, Clay, KS

Built 1997 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 75

LOCAL 1.0-D.8

Good

Over: TRIB TO SCRIBNER CREEK

IN VINING, Clay, KS

Built 1997 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 40

RS 123

Good

Over: MULBERRY CREEK

5.2S OF CLIFTON, Clay, KS

Built 2009 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 320

RS 123

Good

Over: N. BRANCH OF FIVE CREEK

0.5W 4.0N OF IDANA, Clay, KS

Built 2021 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 345

K82 HWY

Good

Over: MILFORD LAKE

6.88 MI E K15, Clay, KS

Built 1966 Load: 52.3 t ADT: 1,360

19th RD.

Good

Over: NORTH BRANCH FIVE CREEK

2.5N 1.0E of IDANA, Clay, KS

Built 2021 Load: 54.8 t ADT: 10

LOCAL Q.5-14.2

Good

Over: LINCOLN CREEK

3.5E OF CLAY CENTER, Clay, KS

Built 1989 Load: 56.0 t ADT: 50

5th Rd.

Good

Over: TRIB TO CHAPMAN CREEK

4.0N 4.0W OF INDUSTRY, Clay, KS

Built 2015 Load: 57.0 t ADT: 10

6th Rd

Good

Over: TRIB TO CHAPMAN CREEK

5.0N 4.0W OF INDUSTRY, Clay, KS

Built 2013 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 50

US-24 HWY

Good

Over: FINNEY CREEK

1.02 MI E K-15, Clay, KS

Built 1993 Load: 59.9 t ADT: 2,480

22nd Road

Good

Over: Trib to Dry Creek

2.0S 1.5E OF MORGANVILLE, Clay, KS

Built 2013 Load: 61.9 t ADT: 10

2nd Rd.

Good

Over: BASKET CREEK

1.0N 3.0W OF INDUSTRY, Clay, KS

Built 2017 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 20

MINOR Q.0-26.1

Good

Over: TRIB TO QUIMBLY CREEK

0.5S 3.0W OF WAKEFIELD, Clay, KS

Built 2011 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 80

LOCAL 13.0-Q.3

Good

Over: TRIB TO LINCOLN CREEK

2.5S 3.8W OF GREEN, Clay, KS

Built 2011 Load: 65.3 t ADT: 10

COURT STREET

Good

Over: DRY CREEK WEST OF FIRST

IN CLAY CENTER, Clay, KS

Built 2011 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 800

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.