County profile · official public datasets

Franklin County, KS

332 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.1% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 4.2% Poor.

332
Public bridges: 55.1%
Good condition: 4.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 50%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.2%
Poor-condition share: 332
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.

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Franklin County ranks #52 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.2%). Franklin County, Kansas contains 332 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.1% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 4.2% “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

332

Public highway bridges in Franklin County

Good condition

55.1%

183 of 332 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.7%

135 of 332 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.2%

14 of 332 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 332 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.1% (183)

Fair

40.7% (135)

Poor

4.2% (14)

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,452 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 175 crossings a day against 1,697 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 332 of 332 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.7% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

165 of the 332 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 55.1% 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 22.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 2066 8.5-6.8 over PAYNE CREEK, built 1928, carries 558 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,452 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

2
1920s

16
1930s

20
1940s

15
1950s

41
1960s

32
1970s

62
1980s

57
1990s

48
2000s

15
2010s

21
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Franklin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Franklin County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cowley County	337	37.4%	57.3%	5.3%	1958
Washington County	335	54.9%	41.2%	3.9%	1975
Franklin County (this page)	332	55.1%	40.7%	4.2%	1972
Miami County	326	64.7%	31.9%	3.4%	1974
Montgomery County	326	32.2%	62.3%	5.5%	1969
Marion County	324	39.2%	51.2%	9.6%	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 Franklin 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 Franklin County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (332 bridges here).

Covington County, AL · 332 bridges
Dutchess County, NY · 332 bridges
Goodhue County, MN · 333 bridges
Passaic County, NJ · 333 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 332 Good 183 Fair 135 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (183)

Sort:

Franklin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Franklin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,452 vehicle crossings a day

49.7% of Franklin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Franklin 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 (183)

SB US-59 HIGHWAY

ELLIS (5-18.5)

TENNESSEE(19.1-20)

ROCK CK (11-8.9)

LOCAL 21.5-0.8

HAMILTON (8-8.8)

LOCAL 22.5-13.2

NB I-35 HWY

Old US-59 Hwy

RS 260 0.7-3.0

RS 1164 5.6-18.0

GEORGIA (17.9-6)

MINOR 16.5-9.5

RILEY (20.0-9.5)

Old US-59 Hwy

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL 13.6-1.5

UTAH (2.6-21.0)

Old US-59 Hwy

NB US-59 HWY

NB US-59 HWY

SB US-59 HWY

LOCAL ROAD

HASKELL (9.0-23.1)

LOCAL ROAD

ALABAMA (7.9-0)

WOODSON (24-17.7)

PAWNEE (17-18.5)

THOMAS (23-2.1)

RS1031

RS 264 11.0-21.5

JACKSON (10.0-4.4)

EISENHOWER(22.1-12

WOODSON (24-12.8)

ENTRANCE 10.9-21.1

5TH STREET

RS 1647 9.3-7.0

3RD AND POPLAR

5TH AND OAK

ALLEY N. OF 5TH

INT 7TH AND WALNUT

LOCAL ROAD

THOMAS (23-21.6)

LOCAL ROAD

US59 HWY

N Main St.

LOCAL 15.9-4

I35 HWY NB

RS 260 8.4-3.0

RS 266 12.8-22.0

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