County profile · official public datasets

Ellis County, KS

275 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.3% rated Good, 44.7% Fair, 4% Poor.

275
Public bridges: 51.3%
Good condition: 4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 46%
lowest Poor share in state: 4%
Poor-condition share: 275
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Ellis County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ellis County ranks #48 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4%). Ellis County, Kansas contains 275 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.3% are rated “Good,” 44.7% “Fair,” and 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

275

Public highway bridges in Ellis County

Good condition

51.3%

141 of 275 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.7%

123 of 275 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11 of 275 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 275 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.3% (141)

Fair

44.7% (123)

Poor

4% (11)

Ellis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,885 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 262 crossings a day against 2,098 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 275 of 275 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.4% of Ellis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

166 of the 275 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 51.3% 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 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Old Highway 40 over N. FORK BIG CREEK TRIB., built 1949, carries 1,000 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,885 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

22
1940s

21
1950s

28
1960s

77
1970s

40
1980s

46
1990s

16
2000s

13
2010s

7
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 77 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Ellis County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ellis County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Smith County	281	31.7%	56.9%	11.4%	1961
Ellis County (this page)	275	51.3%	44.7%	4%	1969
Republic County	266	56%	41%	3%	1976
Rice County	262	48.9%	48.1%	3.1%	1977
Russell County	261	43.7%	54.4%	1.9%	1966
Mitchell County	260	59.6%	36.9%	3.5%	1962

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (275 bridges here).

Walker County, AL · 275 bridges
Harford County, MD · 275 bridges
Seneca County, OH · 275 bridges
Lyon County, IA · 276 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 275 Good 141 Fair 123 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (123)

Sort:

Ellis County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ellis County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,885 vehicle crossings a day

60.4% of Ellis County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ellis 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

Fair-condition bridges (123)

310th Ave.

300th Avenue

Emmeram Road

Cottonwood Avenue

370th Avenue

Saline River Road

Fairground Road

350th Avenue

Old Highway 40

S County Line Road

Chetolah Gold Road

Grants Villa Road

Yocemento Avenue

Pfeifer Avenue

Chetolah Gold Road

240th Ave/Norfolk

Antonino Road

Mount Pleasant Rd

Pfeifer Avenue

Walker Avenue

E 8TH ST.

Schoenchen Road

Codell Avenue

Chetolah Gold Road

160th Avenue

Mt. Pleasant Road

Antonino Road

Ellis Avenue

Ellis Avenue

Ellis Avenue

I70 HWY NL-SL

Antonino Road

Schoenchen Road

Emmeram Road

Old Highway 40

Grants Villa Road

Grants Villa Road

150th Avenue

Yocemento Avenue

Cathedral Avenue

N County Line Rd

E 13TH STREET

170th Avenue

Old Highway 40

I70 HWY EB-WB

Pfeifer Avenue

Victoria Road

150th Avenue

130th Avenue

Toulon Avenue

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