Total bridges
337
Public highway bridges in Cowley County
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.
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.
When Cowley County's bridges were built
337 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1900s 4
1900–1909
4 bridges
- 1910s 11
1910–1919
11 bridges
- 1920s 32
1920–1929
32 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
84 bridges
- 1940s 28
1940–1949
28 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
41 bridges
- 1960s 21
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s 11
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s 27
1980–1989
27 bridges
- 1990s 31
1990–1999
31 bridges
- 2000s 31
2000–2009
31 bridges
- 2010s 11
2010–2019
11 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (18)
22nd RD
PoorOver: ROCK CREEK
0.5N 1.6E OF ROCK, Cowley, KS
Built 1910 Load: 3.7 t ADT: 25
155th RD
PoorOver: SILVER CREEK
2.6N OF CAMERON CITY, Cowley, KS
Built 1910 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 30
51st RD
PoorOver: STEWART CREEK
3.0E 0.3S OF UDALL, Cowley, KS
Built 1904 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 10
172nd RD
PoorOver: TRIB. TO TIMBER CREEK
0.5S OF FLORAL, Cowley, KS
Built 1906 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 50
262nd RD
PoorOver: TRIB. TO ARKANSAS RIVER
3.5E & 1.0 S of Gueda spr, Cowley, KS
Built 1935 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 100
MINOR 4S-17-35-3
PoorOver: CREEK
3.0S 4.6W ARKANSAS CITY, Cowley, KS
Built 1912 Load: 13.5 t ADT: 45
42nd RD
PoorOver: WALNUT RIVER
1.5S 0.5W OF ROCK, Cowley, KS
Built 1930 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 30
2nd RD
PoorOver: ROCK CREEK
2.5N 3.9E OF ROCK, Cowley, KS
Built 1920 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 5
261st RD
PoorOver: BEAVER CREEK
2.0E 0.9S OF OTTO, Cowley, KS
Built 1920 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 25
MINOR 1S-16-35-3
PoorOver: SPRING CREEK
3.0S 3.4W ARKANSAS CITY, Cowley, KS
Built 1912 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 45
275th RD
PoorOver: GROUSE CREEK
5.1N 1.0E OF CAMBRIDGE, Cowley, KS
Built 1910 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 15
71st RD
PoorOver: TRIB. TO WALNUT RIVER
N.E. EDGE ARKANSAS CITY, Cowley, KS
Built 1930 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 25
101st RD
PoorOver: TIMBER CREEK
2.3N OF WINFIELD, Cowley, KS
Built 1923 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 350
42nd RD
PoorOver: GROUSE CREEK
1.0S 7.8E OF ATLANTA, Cowley, KS
Built 1927 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 5
11th RD
PoorOver: ARKANSAS RIVER
1.0E OF GEUDA SPRINGS, Cowley, KS
Built 1945 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 855
223rd RD
PoorOver: CRABB CREEK
3.0S 1.7W OF DEXTER, Cowley, KS
Built 1900 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 10
US160 HWY
PoorOver: WALNUT RIVER
8.30 MI E SUMNER COLN, Cowley, KS
Built 1957 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 5,080
232nd RD
PoorOver: SILVER CREEK
4.5N 1.2W OF CAMERON CITY, Cowley, KS
Built 1890 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 10
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.