County profile · official public datasets

Coffey County, KS

305 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 75.4% rated Good, 23.3% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

305
Public bridges: 75.4%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Coffey County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 305
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Coffey County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Coffey County ranks #21 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Coffey County, Kansas contains 305 public highway bridges. Roughly 75.4% are rated “Good,” 23.3% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

305

Public highway bridges in Coffey County

Good condition

75.4%

230 of 305 rated 7-9

Fair condition

23.3%

71 of 305 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

4 of 305 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 305 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

75.4% (230)

Fair

23.3% (71)

Poor

1.3% (4)

Coffey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 75 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 19 crossings a day against 553 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 305 of 305 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.9% of Coffey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 305 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 75.4% 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 40% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LYNX RD. 2 over FROG CREEK, built 1974, carries 30 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 75 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

12
1940s

6
1950s

11
1960s

23
1970s

40
1980s

56
1990s

89
2000s

53
2010s

9
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 89 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 12 years newer than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Coffey County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 14 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Coffey County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cloud County	314	52.5%	40.8%	6.7%	1961
Jewell County	307	57.3%	35.5%	7.2%	1972
Coffey County (this page)	305	75.4%	23.3%	1.3%	1984
Osage County	304	57.9%	35.9%	6.3%	1972
Pottawatomie County	303	48.2%	44.6%	7.3%	1975
Crawford County	297	52.9%	39.7%	7.4%	1969

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (305 bridges here).

Ashtabula County, OH · 305 bridges
La Paz County, AZ · 306 bridges
Adair County, IA · 306 bridges
Greene County, PA · 306 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 305 Good 230 Fair 71 Poor 4

All bridges (305)

Sort:

Coffey County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Coffey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 75 vehicle crossings a day

27.9% of Coffey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Coffey 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 (305)

SHETLAND RD. 46

UNDERWOOD RD. 153

K58 HWY

DOBBIN RD. 257

8TH. LN. 117

DOBBIN RD. 189

JUNIATTA STREET

19TH. RD. #56

7TH. RD. 149

NATIVE RD. 136

IRIS RD. 131

XERIC RD. 52

8TH. RD. 115

20TH. RD. 66

20TH. LN. 42

19TH LANE

REAPER RD. 58

12TH. RD. #104

FAUNA RD. 107

28TH. RD. 313

20TH. PL. 237

OXEN RD. 40

WAYSIDE RD. 151

20TH. RD. #51

GARNER RD. 188

I35 HWY SB

I35 HWY NB

K58 HWY

K58 HWY

9TH. RD. 197

13TH. RD. 81

22ND. RD. 112

22ND. RD. 113

Garner Road B352

7TH. RD. 147

US-75 HWY

11TH. RD. 96

OLD HWY. 50 030

10TH. RD. 142

24TH. RD. 208

27TH. RD. 7

REAPER RD. 67

25th Lane 324

Iris Rd 336

16TH. RD. #68

JUNEBERRY RD B350

17TH. RD. 65

22ND. RD. 115

DOBBIN RD. 105

16th LN B349

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