County profile · official public datasets

Ford County, KS

223 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.2% rated Good, 49.8% Fair, 0% Poor.

223
Public bridges
50.2%
Good condition
0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ford County posts a top-1% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 1%
lowest Poor share in state
0%
Poor-condition share
223
public highway bridges
1972
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.

Ford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ford County ranks #1 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Ford County, Kansas contains 223 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.2% are rated “Good,” 49.8% “Fair,” and 0% “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

223

Public highway bridges in Ford County

Good condition

50.2%

112 of 223 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.8%

111 of 223 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0%

0 of 223 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 223 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
50.2% (112)
Fair
49.8% (111)
Poor
0% (0)

42.2% of Ford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

94 of the 223 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 50.2% 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.

When Ford County's bridges were built

223 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Kansas average (1972).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Ford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ford County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Greenwood County 235 21.3%
Clay County 231 5.2%
Allen County 227 11%
Lincoln County 225 10.2%
Riley County 224 5.4%
Ford County (this page) 223 0%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (223 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1972 here).

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

All 223 Good 112 Fair 111 Poor 0

All bridges (223)

Rd 104

Good

Over: TRIB. TO CROOKED CREEK

0.9N 13.5W OF BLOOM, Ford, KS

Built 1982 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 40

US-050 HWY

Good

Over: ARKANSAS RIVER DRG

US-050 HWY, Ford, KS

Built 2023 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 7,200

US-283 HWY

Good

Over: SAWLOG CREEK

8.37 MI N US-50, Ford, KS

Built 1996 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 2,090

US-400 HWY

Good

Over: ARKANSAS RIVER DRAINAGE

0.90 MI SE 56/ 400 SJCT, Ford, KS

Built 1998 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 10,300

US-050 HWY

Good

Over: ARKANSAS RIVER DRG

US-050 HWY, Ford, KS

Built 2023 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 7,200

ENTRANCE LEFT

Good

Over: US-050-HWY

US-050 HWY, Ford, KS

Built 2023 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 7,200

RD 127

Good

Over: COON CREEK

5.0W 2.3S OF WINDHORST, Ford, KS

Built 2023 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 15

Rd 120

Good

Over: SAWLOG CREEK

3.8N 6.0W OF SPEARVILLE, Ford, KS

Built 1986 Load: 47.9 t ADT: 50

Rd 113

Good

Over: TRIB. TO SAW LOG CREEK

1.2E 9.0N OF DODGE CITY, Ford, KS

Built 1987 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 40

RS 953 (JEWELL RD)

Good

Over: COON CREEK

16.0E OF WRIGHT, Ford, KS

Built 2004 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 100

K-34 HWY

Good

Over: RATTLESNAKE CR

1.23 MI S EJCT US-54, Ford, KS

Built 2011 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 940

RD 130

Good

Over: COW CREEK

4.6E 5.1S OF SPEARVILLE, Ford, KS

Built 1983 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 40

Rd 108

Good

Over: TRIB. TO ARKANSAS RIVER

2.8W 2.2S OF DODGE CITY, Ford, KS

Built 1982 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 60

Primrose Rd

Good

Over: Trib to Arkansas River

4.0S 2.8W OF DODGE CITY, Ford, KS

Built 1998 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 20

Rd 116

Good

Over: ELM CREEK

4.2N 5.0E OF DODGE CITY, Ford, KS

Built 1984 Load: 53.3 t ADT: 50

K94 HWY

Good

Over: W F RATTLESNAKE CR

2.11 MI S US54, Ford, KS

Built 2015 Load: 53.8 t ADT: 85

Rd 131

Good

Over: COON CREEK

0.5W 2.4S OF WIND HORST, Ford, KS

Built 1987 Load: 54.9 t ADT: 35

US-400 HWY

Good

Over: ARKANSAS RIVER DRAINAGE

11.45 MI SE 56/ 400 SJCT, Ford, KS

Built 1998 Load: 55.3 t ADT: 3,530

Rd 124

Good

Over: RATTLESNAKE CREEK

1.0W 1.0S OF KINGSDOWN, Ford, KS

Built 1990 Load: 62.7 t ADT: 40

US-400 HWY

Good

Over: STREAM

.10 MI S 400/MARSHALL JCT, Ford, KS

Built 2008 Load: 70.8 t ADT: 1,204

Rd 114

Good

Over: MULBERRY CREEK

3.5W 7.0N OF BLOOM, Ford, KS

Built 1982 Load: 72.9 t ADT: 60

US54 HWY

Good

Over: RATTLESNAKE CREEK DRN

4.02 MI E-E JCT K34, Ford, KS

Built 1935 Load: 75.3 t ADT: 3,510

US-56 HWY

Good

Over: ARKANSAS RIVER DRAINAGE

1.00 MI E OF 56/283 SJCT, Ford, KS

Built 1996 Load: 77.1 t ADT: 4,670

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.