County profile · official public datasets

Graham County, KS

142 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.8% rated Good, 39.4% Fair, 7.7% Poor.

142
Public bridges: 52.8%
Good condition: 7.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

81st
of 104 on Poor share: 7.7%
Poor-condition share: 142
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Graham County ranks #81 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.7%). Graham County, Kansas contains 142 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.8% are rated “Good,” 39.4% “Fair,” and 7.7% “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

142

Public highway bridges in Graham County

Good condition

52.8%

75 of 142 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.4%

56 of 142 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.7%

11 of 142 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 142 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.8% (75)

Fair

39.4% (56)

Poor

7.7% (11)

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 435 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 40 crossings a day against 364 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 141 of 142 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.3% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

87 of the 142 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 52.8% 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 19.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

190 AVE (NORTH) over BOW CREEK, built 1925, carries 85 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 435 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

15
1940s

5
1950s

26
1960s

33
1970s

7
1980s

32
1990s

5
2000s

6
2010s

5
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Graham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1962 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Graham County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Elk County	154	37%	55.8%	7.1%	1959
Anderson County	144	34.7%	61.1%	4.2%	1956
Woodson County	143	37.1%	54.5%	8.4%	1958
Graham County (this page)	142	52.8%	39.4%	7.7%	1968
Geary County	140	46.4%	43.6%	10%	1972
Chautauqua County	130	41.5%	47.7%	10.8%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (142 bridges here).

Monroe County, AL · 142 bridges
Henderson County, IL · 142 bridges
Kenton County, KY · 142 bridges
Freeborn County, MN · 142 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 142 Good 75 Fair 56 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (75)

Sort:

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 435 vehicle crossings a day

61.3% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 19.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Graham 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 (75)

P ROAD (WEST)

360 AVE (RS 861)

360 AVE (RS 861)

Z ROAD (RS 181)

Z ROAD (RS 181)

140 AVE (RS 275)

200 AVE (RS 718)

360 AVE (RS 861)

Y ROAD (RS 859)

Y ROAD (RS 859)

E ROAD (WEST)

M ROAD (WEST)

240 AVE (SOUTH)

K18 HWY

P ROAD (WEST)

Y ROAD (RS 859)

O TERR. (WEST)

U ROAD (EAST)

350 AVE (SOUTH)

370 AVE (NORTH)

380 AVE (RS 1933)

US24 HWY

US283 HWY

ALGN OLD US24

DD ROAD (RS 891)

US283 HWY

190 AVE (SOUTH)

US24 HWY

Y ROAD (RS 859)

130 AVE (NORTH)

US24 HWY

320 AVE (NORTH)

200 AVE (RS 718)

DD ROAD (RS 861)

340 AVE (NORTH)

390 AVE (NORTH)

340 AVE (NORTH)

200 AVE (RS 718)

US-283 HWY

US-283 HWY

B ROAD (WEST)

US-283 HWY

L ROAD (EAST)

110 AVE (SOUTH)

280 AVE (NORTH)

US-283 HWY

310 AVE (SOUTH)

K18 HWY

170 AVE (RS 281)

200 AVE (RS 718)

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