County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, KS

194 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.1% rated Good, 43.8% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

194
Public bridges: 52.1%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 194
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #50 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Jefferson County, Kansas contains 194 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.1% are rated “Good,” 43.8% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

194

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

52.1%

101 of 194 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.8%

85 of 194 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

8 of 194 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 194 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.1% (101)

Fair

43.8% (85)

Poor

4.1% (8)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 661 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 83 crossings a day against 642 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 194 of 194 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.8% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 194 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 52.1% 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 65.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Ferguson Rd. over Little Rock Creek, built 1968, carries 430 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 661 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

2
1920s

8
1930s

17
1940s

4
1950s

16
1960s

32
1970s

20
1980s

25
1990s

29
2000s

24
2010s

12
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is 11 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bourbon County	206	42.2%	42.2%	15.5%	1962
Wilson County	205	34.6%	53.2%	12.2%	1959
Atchison County	197	41.6%	48.7%	9.6%	1969
Jefferson County (this page)	194	52.1%	43.8%	4.1%	1975
Chase County	189	48.1%	45%	6.9%	1964
Morris County	179	33%	54.2%	12.8%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (194 bridges here).

Franklin County, AL · 194 bridges
Poinsett County, AR · 194 bridges
Trinity County, CA · 194 bridges
Colquitt County, GA · 194 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 194 Good 101 Fair 85 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (101)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 661 vehicle crossings a day

43.8% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 65.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (101)

US24 HWY EB

Decatur Rd.

27th

27th

US24 HWY WB

46th

Linn St

Ferguson Rd.

Swabville Rd

US24 HWY WB

US24 HWY EB

46th

Kiowa Rd.

Marion Rd

90th

5th

Saline Rd.

US24 US59 HWY

190th

27th

K-92 HYW

Kiowa Rd

114th Rd.

K4 HWY

US59 HWY

K92 HWY

142nd

78th

Jackson Rd

US-24 US-59 HWY

198th

175th

Buck Creek Rd

US59 K16 HWY

Osage Rd.

K192 HWY

27th

K192 HWY

102nd

17th

202nd

Washington Rd

178th

175th

21st

K-4 HWY

98th

170th Rd.

Wellman Rd

202nd

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