County profile · official public datasets

Ellsworth County, KS

259 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.6% rated Good, 48.6% Fair, 2.7% Poor.

259
Public bridges: 48.6%
Good condition: 2.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.7%
Poor-condition share: 259
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Ellsworth County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ellsworth County ranks #33 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.7%). Ellsworth County, Kansas contains 259 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.6% are rated “Good,” 48.6% “Fair,” and 2.7% “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

259

Public highway bridges in Ellsworth County

Good condition

48.6%

126 of 259 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.6%

126 of 259 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.7%

7 of 259 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 259 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.6% (126)

Fair

48.6% (126)

Poor

2.7% (7)

Ellsworth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,755 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 394 crossings a day against 720 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 259 of 259 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.8% of Ellsworth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

155 of the 259 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 48.6% 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 41.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

K140 HWY over CLEAR CREEK DRAINAGE, built 1928, carries 1,150 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,755 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

11
1930s

51
1940s

20
1950s

19
1960s

46
1970s

19
1980s

10
1990s

10
2000s

38
2010s

33
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Ellsworth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ellsworth County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Ellsworth County (this page)	259	48.6%	48.6%	2.7%	1970
Linn County	257	59.9%	35.4%	4.7%	1976
Brown County	256	48.4%	47.7%	3.9%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (259 bridges here).

Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
Hampshire County, MA · 259 bridges
Dakota County, MN · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 259 Good 126 Fair 126 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (126)

Sort:

Ellsworth County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ellsworth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,755 vehicle crossings a day

59.8% of Ellsworth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ellsworth 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)

Ave I

Old Hwy 40

K156 HWY

Ave L

6th Road

Ave C

11th Road

Ave I

Ave K

K156 HWY

Ave E

Ave K

Ave D

29th Road

Ave C

8th Road

Ave I

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

2nd Road

Ave F

Ave Q

750 Road

Ave T

Old Hwy 40

Ave E

8th Road

14th Road

Ave E

17th Road

Ave H

6th Road

Ave K

Ave D

K14 HWY

Ave F

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

K140 HWY

K156 HWY

2nd Road

Ave V

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

Ave H

Ave L

K14 HWY

Old Hwy 40

3rd Road

NE MAIN ST

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