County profile · official public datasets

Cloud County, KS

314 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.5% rated Good, 40.8% Fair, 6.7% Poor.

314
Public bridges: 52.5%
Good condition: 6.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cloud 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.

71st
of 104 on Poor share: 6.7%
Poor-condition share: 314
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Cloud County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cloud County ranks #71 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.7%). Cloud County, Kansas contains 314 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.5% are rated “Good,” 40.8% “Fair,” and 6.7% “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

314

Public highway bridges in Cloud County

Good condition

52.5%

165 of 314 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.8%

128 of 314 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.7%

21 of 314 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 314 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.5% (165)

Fair

40.8% (128)

Poor

6.7% (21)

Cloud County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,035 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 49 crossings a day against 533 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 314 of 314 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.1% of Cloud County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

217 of the 314 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 52.5% 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 15.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 138 | 40th Rd over FISHER CREEK, built 1932, carries 165 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,035 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

6
1910s

1
1920s

16
1930s

42
1940s

22
1950s

87
1960s

36
1970s

16
1980s

44
1990s

23
2000s

12
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 87 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 11 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Cloud County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 17 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cloud County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cherokee County	317	42.6%	53%	4.4%	1967
Wyandotte County	315	62.5%	34.6%	2.9%	1980
Douglas County	314	78%	21.3%	0.6%	1989
Cloud County (this page)	314	52.5%	40.8%	6.7%	1961
Jewell County	307	57.3%	35.5%	7.2%	1972
Coffey County	305	75.4%	23.3%	1.3%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (314 bridges here).

Jackson County, AL · 314 bridges
Franklin County, MA · 314 bridges
Audrain County, MO · 314 bridges
Durham County, NC · 314 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 314 Good 165 Fair 128 Poor 21

Good-condition bridges (165)

Sort:

Cloud County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cloud County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,035 vehicle crossings a day

69.1% of Cloud County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 15.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cloud 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

Good-condition bridges (165)

Teal Rd

230th Rd

230th Rd

Lark Rd

Fawn Rd

250th Rd

250th Rd

255th Rd

Gold Rd

US24 HWY

250th Rd

150th Rd

Lark Rd

RS 1404 | Bell Rd

280th Rd

County Line Rd

K9 HWY

US81 HWY NB

US-81 HWY SB

Oat Rd

Plum Rd

10th Rd

Fawn Rd

K28 HWY

RS 566 | 200th Rd

RS 146 | Union Rd

130th Rd

Fawn Rd

K9 HWY

Camp Rd

Iron Rd

Plum Rd

Milo Rd

K9 HWY

K9 HWY

RS 146 | Union Rd

Mitchell Rd

60th Rd

270th Rd

County Line Rd

Camp Rd

Plum Rd

240th Rd

240th Rd

Plum Rd

Quail Rd

K-28 HWY

K-28 HWY

RS 1044 | 100th Rd

180th Rd

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