County profile · official public datasets

Decatur County, KS

159 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.3% rated Good, 45.3% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

159
Public bridges: 45.3%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

85th
of 104 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 159
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Decatur County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Decatur County ranks #85 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Decatur County, Kansas contains 159 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.3% are rated “Good,” 45.3% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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

159

Public highway bridges in Decatur County

Good condition

45.3%

72 of 159 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.3%

72 of 159 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

15 of 159 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#85 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 159 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.3% (72)

Fair

45.3% (72)

Poor

9.4% (15)

Decatur County's Poor-condition bridges carry 240 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 16 crossings a day against 335 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 159 of 159 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.1% of Decatur County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 159 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 45.3% 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 12.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

L LANE over PRAIRIE DOG CREEK, built 1953, 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 240 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

14
1940s

8
1950s

33
1960s

15
1970s

22
1980s

12
1990s

17
2000s

15
2010s

20
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 33 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 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Decatur County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1962 is 14 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Decatur County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Rooks County	169	45%	53.3%	1.8%	1968
Ness County	167	63.5%	27.5%	9%	1961
Trego County	166	45.2%	50.6%	4.2%	1965
Pawnee County	164	37.2%	57.3%	5.5%	1957
Decatur County (this page)	159	45.3%	45.3%	9.4%	1976
Elk County	154	37%	55.8%	7.1%	1959

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (159 bridges here).

Franklin County, IN · 159 bridges
Cheyenne County, NE · 159 bridges
Morgan County, OH · 159 bridges
Fulton County, PA · 159 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 159 Good 72 Fair 72 Poor 15

Good-condition bridges (72)

Sort:

Decatur County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Decatur County's Poor-condition bridges carry 240 vehicle crossings a day

54.1% of Decatur County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Decatur 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 (72)

200 ROAD

9N ROAD (RS 1891)

N Lane (RS 899)

9N ROAD (RS 1891)

9N ROAD (RS 1891)

8E ROAD (RS 676)

100 ROAD (RS 1625)

17E ROAD (RS 182)

K9 HWY

K223 HWY

10W ROAD (RS 1625)

J LANE

100 ROAD (RS 1625)

K9 HWY

L LANE

900 ROAD

CITY ROAD

BEAVER AVENUE

U LANE

N Lane (RS 899)

5W ROAD (RS 675)

W LANE

2700 ROAD

K9 HWY

11S ROAD (RS 903)

BB LANE

13E ROAD (RS 181)

US 83 HWY

10W ROAD (RS 180)

US 83 HWY

X5 LANE

K123 HWY

2000 ROAD

2500 ROAD

US 83 HWY

K383 HWY

800 ROAD

K LANE

US83 HWY

2300 ROAD

CC LANE

800 ROAD

H LANE

2700 ROAD

I LANE

2000 ROAD

2600 ROAD

2200 ROAD

US83 HWY

1000 ROAD

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