County profile · official public datasets

Dickinson County, KS

375 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.7% rated Good, 47.2% Fair, 5.1% Poor.

375
Public bridges: 47.7%
Good condition: 5.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

59th
of 104 on Poor share: 5.1%
Poor-condition share: 375
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Dickinson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dickinson County ranks #59 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.1%). Dickinson County, Kansas contains 375 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.7% are rated “Good,” 47.2% “Fair,” and 5.1% “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

375

Public highway bridges in Dickinson County

Good condition

47.7%

179 of 375 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.2%

177 of 375 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.1%

19 of 375 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 375 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.7% (179)

Fair

47.2% (177)

Poor

5.1% (19)

Dickinson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,612 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 453 crossings a day against 834 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 374 of 375 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.6% of Dickinson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

171 of the 375 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 47.7% 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 23.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 1816 H15-E8 over MUD CREEK, built 1938, carries 2,035 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,612 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

17
1930s

30
1940s

20
1950s

64
1960s

33
1970s

34
1980s

66
1990s

20
2000s

54
2010s

22
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 66 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Dickinson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dickinson County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kingman County	391	48.3%	45.8%	5.9%	1976
Dickinson County (this page)	375	47.7%	47.2%	5.1%	1974
Harper County	372	25%	65.3%	9.7%	1965
Harvey County	372	57.3%	35.5%	7.3%	1971
Saline County	369	68.6%	29.5%	1.9%	1971
Nemaha County	359	41.5%	49%	9.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (375 bridges here).

Bureau County, IL · 375 bridges
Scioto County, OH · 376 bridges
Benton County, IA · 374 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · 374 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 375 Good 179 Fair 177 Poor 19

Good-condition bridges (179)

Sort:

Dickinson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dickinson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,612 vehicle crossings a day

45.6% of Dickinson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dickinson 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 (179)

700 AVE (J31-E15)

Jeep Rd (L32-S60)

K-4 HWY

K-15 HWY

2600 Ave (H12-E75)

1500 Ave (A23-E90)

K4 HWY

RS 1806 V28-E90-S3

K4 HWY

I 70 HWY

I 70 HWY

RS 1816 L15-E99

RS 186 B23-S32

K-43 HWY

K-4 HWY

RS 191 A24-E38

RS 1816 L15-E36

K43 HWY

RS 197 Q17-E8

K209 HWY

RS 185 F22-S99

RS 189 G8-S1

K-197 HWY

RS 1816 T12-S1-E8

Quail Rd (S6-S60)

K43 RAMP LEFT

RS 197 U13-E2

I70 HWY WB-EB

K18 HWY

Related