County profile · official public datasets

Montgomery County, KS

326 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 32.2% rated Good, 62.3% Fair, 5.5% Poor.

326
Public bridges: 32.2%
Good condition: 5.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

64th
of 104 on Poor share: 5.5%
Poor-condition share: 326
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montgomery County ranks #64 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.5%). Montgomery County, Kansas contains 326 public highway bridges. Roughly 32.2% are rated “Good,” 62.3% “Fair,” and 5.5% “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

326

Public highway bridges in Montgomery County

Good condition

32.2%

105 of 326 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.3%

203 of 326 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.5%

18 of 326 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 326 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

32.2% (105)

Fair

62.3% (203)

Poor

5.5% (18)

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,656 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 259 crossings a day against 2,029 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 325 of 326 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.4% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

161 of the 326 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 32.2% 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 31% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

2000 RD Mile 15 over TRIB. TO ONION CREEK, built 1940, carries 1,442 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,656 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

14
1930s

57
1940s

19
1950s

23
1960s

23
1970s

50
1980s

53
1990s

37
2000s

16
2010s

24
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Montgomery County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Montgomery County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	335	54.9%	41.2%	3.9%	1975
Franklin County	332	55.1%	40.7%	4.2%	1972
Miami County	326	64.7%	31.9%	3.4%	1974
Montgomery County (this page)	326	32.2%	62.3%	5.5%	1969
Marion County	324	39.2%	51.2%	9.6%	1959
Cherokee County	317	42.6%	53%	4.4%	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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (326 bridges here).

Merrimack County, NH · 326 bridges
Washington County, OR · 326 bridges
St. Clair County, MI · 327 bridges
Henry County, IL · 328 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 326 Good 105 Fair 203 Poor 18

Good-condition bridges (105)

Sort:

Montgomery County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montgomery County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,656 vehicle crossings a day

49.4% of Montgomery County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 31% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montgomery 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 (105)

5450 RD Mile 17

3400 RD Mile 8

US-160 HIGHWAY

2900 RD Mile 3

US-166 HWY

So. Cement

US-169 HWY

1300 RD Mile 6

2300 RD Mile 24

1300 RD Mile 3

US75/US400 HWH SB

5700 RD Mile 21

3000 RD Mile 1

US75/US400 HWH NB

US169 HWY

5000 RD Mile 21

US166 HWY

2000 RD Mile 17

1550 RD Mile 19

3375 RD Mile 20

US-169 HWY

US-75/K-96 HWY

2440 RD Mile 1

Homeward Rd.

US166 HWY

2900 RD Mile 11

5100 RD Mile 5

2300 RD Mile 23

6600 RD Mile 6

1600 RD Mile 23

US-400 HWY

5200 RD Mile 21

2100 RD Mile 3

5800 RD Mile 12

LAUREL S. FAU 2004

US-400 HWY

US-400 HWY EB

US-400 HWY WB

2200 RD Mile 20

US-400 HWY

SB US-169 HWY

NB US-169 HWY

3300 RD Mile 7

US-160 HWY

US-169 HWY

2500 RD Mile 4

US-400 HWY

US-169 HWY

US166 HWY

US-400 HWY

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