County profile · official public datasets

Geary County, KS

140 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.4% rated Good, 43.6% Fair, 10% Poor.

140
Public bridges: 46.4%
Good condition: 10%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

91st
of 104 on Poor share: 10%
Poor-condition share: 140
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.

Geary County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Geary County ranks #91 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10%). Geary County, Kansas contains 140 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.4% are rated “Good,” 43.6% “Fair,” and 10% “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

140

Public highway bridges in Geary County

Good condition

46.4%

65 of 140 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.6%

61 of 140 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10%

14 of 140 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#91 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 140 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.4% (65)

Fair

43.6% (61)

Poor

10% (14)

Geary County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,632 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,188 crossings a day against 4,160 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 140 of 140 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

59.3% of Geary County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 140 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 46.4% 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 83% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Washington Street over REPUBLICAN RIVER, built 1985, carries 13,800 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 16,632 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

3
1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

9
1950s

17
1960s

40
1970s

8
1980s

9
1990s

14
2000s

19
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Geary County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1965 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Geary County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Anderson County	144	34.7%	61.1%	4.2%	1956
Woodson County	143	37.1%	54.5%	8.4%	1958
Graham County	142	52.8%	39.4%	7.7%	1968
Geary County (this page)	140	46.4%	43.6%	10%	1972
Chautauqua County	130	41.5%	47.7%	10.8%	1964
Doniphan County	129	50.4%	41.1%	8.5%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (140 bridges here).

Henry County, GA · 140 bridges
Colfax County, NM · 140 bridges
Harrison County, OH · 140 bridges
Wyoming County, PA · 140 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 140 Good 65 Fair 61 Poor 14

All bridges (140)

Sort:

Geary County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Geary County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,632 vehicle crossings a day

59.3% of Geary County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 83% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Geary 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

All bridges (140)

HUEBNER ROAD

THOMAS CREEK RD

OLD HWY 13

DAVIS CREEK ROAD

BRITT ROAD

OLD HWY 13

THOMAS CREEK RD

EDWARDS RD19.7-V.0

MORITZ RD 20.8-L.8

OTTER CREEK RD

RS 1092

OLD K-18 RS 2121

OLD K-18 RS 2121

FLORENCE ROAD

FLORENCE ROAD

OLD HWY 82

RS 1092

RS 1806 LYON CR RD

RS 1806 LYON CR RD

WEST 6TH ST.

HUMBOLDT CREEK RD.

K57 HWY

THOMAS CREEK RD

I70 HWY EB/WB

MILFORD LAKE RD

OLD STAGE ROAD

US77 HWY

US77 HWY

I70 HWY NL-SL

I70 HWY WB

DIETRICH RD RS 134

Humbolt Creek Rd

RS 1089

RS1816 OLD HWY 40

RS 1816 OLD HWY 40

OLD HWY 18 RS 2121

WALLA WALLA ROAD

CARR ROAD 16.0-U.1

GARANSON RD.

WEST 14TH ST.

TRAIL Z50 & Z53

VENABLE DRIVE

I70 HWY WB-EB

THOMAS CREEK RD

RS2214 WB GRANT AV

K57 HWY

US77 HWY

RS-1809

Old Hwy 77

I70 HWY WB

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