County profile · official public datasets

Labette County, KS

349 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.4% rated Good, 55.9% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

349
Public bridges: 38.4%
Good condition: 5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Labette County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

65th
of 104 on Poor share: 5.7%
Poor-condition share: 349
public highway bridges: 1957
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.

Labette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Labette County ranks #65 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Labette County, Kansas contains 349 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.4% are rated “Good,” 55.9% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

349

Public highway bridges in Labette County

Good condition

38.4%

134 of 349 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.9%

195 of 349 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

20 of 349 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#65 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 349 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.4% (134)

Fair

55.9% (195)

Poor

5.7% (20)

Labette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,013 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 101 crossings a day against 1,274 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 349 of 349 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.3% of Labette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

200 of the 349 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 38.4% 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 27.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 369 over TRIB. TO SNOW CREEK, built 1936, carries 555 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,013 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

27
1920s

34
1930s

88
1940s

12
1950s

18
1960s

15
1970s

71
1980s

32
1990s

25
2000s

19
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 88 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1957, 15 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Labette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1957 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Labette County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Saline County	369	68.6%	29.5%	1.9%	1971
Nemaha County	359	41.5%	49%	9.5%	1986
Labette County (this page)	349	38.4%	55.9%	5.7%	1957
Cowley County	337	37.4%	57.3%	5.3%	1958
Washington County	335	54.9%	41.2%	3.9%	1975
Franklin County	332	55.1%	40.7%	4.2%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (349 bridges here).

Wilkes County, NC · 349 bridges
Guernsey County, OH · 350 bridges
Parker County, TX · 350 bridges
Fillmore County, MN · 348 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1957 here).

Essex County, MA · avg 1957 · 395 bridges
Greer County, OK · avg 1957 · 230 bridges
Spink County, SD · avg 1957 · 176 bridges
Brewster County, TX · avg 1957 · 114 bridges

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

All 349 Good 134 Fair 195 Poor 20

All bridges (349)

Sort:

Labette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Labette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,013 vehicle crossings a day

57.3% of Labette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Labette 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 (349)

LOCAL RD. 71

US166 HWY

MINOR COL 42

LOCAL RD. 182

RS 371

LOCAL RD. 105

US59 US-160 HWY

US-160 HWY

RS 1140

LOCAL RD. 60

US 166 HWY

US-400 HWY

RS 1948

US59 HWY

RS 1139

LOCAL RD. 14

RS 1138

LOCAL RD. 181

LOCAL RD. 222

LOCAL RD. 175

LOCAL RD. 172

LOCAL RD. 220

LOCAL RD. 121A

LOCAL RD. 31

RS 373

RS 375

LOCAL RD. 153

LOCAL RD. 48

MINOR COL 173

LOCAL RD. 49

MINOR COL 51

LOCAL RD. 21

MINOR COL 52

MINOR COL 62

LOCAL RD. 166

LOCAL RD. 214

LOCAL RD. 55A

RS 372

US59 HWY

US59 HWY

US166 HWY

LOCAL RD. 4

MINOR COL 178

RS 374

RS 1138

MINOR COL 221

RS 368

RS 1139

LOCAL RD. 20

US59 HWY

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