County profile · official public datasets

Cowley County, KS

337 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.4% rated Good, 57.3% Fair, 5.3% Poor.

337
Public bridges: 37.4%
Good condition: 5.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cowley 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.

61st
of 104 on Poor share: 5.3%
Poor-condition share: 337
public highway bridges: 1958
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.

Cowley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cowley County ranks #61 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Cowley County, Kansas contains 337 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.4% are rated “Good,” 57.3% “Fair,” and 5.3% “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

337

Public highway bridges in Cowley County

Good condition

37.4%

126 of 337 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.3%

193 of 337 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.3%

18 of 337 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 337 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.4% (126)

Fair

57.3% (193)

Poor

5.3% (18)

Cowley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,715 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 373 crossings a day against 1,360 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 337 of 337 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

68.8% of Cowley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

232 of the 337 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 37.4% 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 75.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US160 HWY over WALNUT RIVER, built 1957, carries 5,080 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,715 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

4
1910s

11
1920s

32
1930s

84
1940s

28
1950s

41
1960s

21
1970s

11
1980s

27
1990s

31
2000s

31
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 84 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1958, 14 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Cowley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1958 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 11 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cowley County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Labette County	349	38.4%	55.9%	5.7%	1957
Cowley County (this page)	337	37.4%	57.3%	5.3%	1958
Washington County	335	54.9%	41.2%	3.9%	1975
Franklin County	332	55.1%	40.7%	4.2%	1972
Miami County	326	64.7%	31.9%	3.4%	1974
Montgomery County	326	32.2%	62.3%	5.5%	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 Cowley 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 Cowley County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (337 bridges here).

Placer County, CA · 337 bridges
Tama County, IA · 337 bridges
Ouachita County, LA · 337 bridges
Windham County, VT · 337 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1958 here).

Middlesex County, MA · avg 1958 · 818 bridges
Bucks County, PA · avg 1958 · 699 bridges
Butte County, CA · avg 1958 · 437 bridges
Marin County, CA · avg 1958 · 207 bridges

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

All 337 Good 126 Fair 193 Poor 18

Good-condition bridges (126)

Sort:

Cowley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cowley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,715 vehicle crossings a day

68.8% of Cowley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cowley 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 (126)

232nd RD

152nd RD

31st RD

182nd RD

182nd RD

51st RD

32nd RD

182nd RD

141st RD

161st RD

221st RD

42nd RD

72nd RD

341st RD

56th RD

SIDEROAD LT-212TH

US160 HWY

US160 HWY

US-166 HWY

US-77 HWY

US77 HWY

US-77 HIGHWAY

K15 HWY

K15 HWY

US-160 HWY

US-166 HWY

322nd RD

14th AVENUE

US77 HWY

US77 HWY

15TH ST N FAU 0115

US-77 HWY

251st RD

141st RD

US77 HWY

US77 HWY

US166 HWY

172nd RD

KANSAS AVENUE

132nd RD

US-77 HIGHWAY

212th RD

21st RD

31st RD

US-77 HWY

MAIN STREET

US-166 HWY

122nd RD

131st RD

161st RD

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