County profile · official public datasets

Nemaha County, KS

359 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.5% rated Good, 49% Fair, 9.5% Poor.

359
Public bridges: 41.5%
Good condition: 9.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

86th
of 104 on Poor share: 9.5%
Poor-condition share: 359
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Nemaha County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nemaha County ranks #86 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Nemaha County, Kansas contains 359 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.5% are rated “Good,” 49% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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

359

Public highway bridges in Nemaha County

Good condition

41.5%

149 of 359 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49%

176 of 359 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.5%

34 of 359 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#86 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 359 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.5% (149)

Fair

49% (176)

Poor

9.5% (34)

Nemaha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,601 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 47 crossings a day against 292 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 359 of 359 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.7% of Nemaha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 359 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 41.5% 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 21.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 1267 C-9 over SILVER CREEK, built 1983, carries 342 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 34-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,601 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

15
1940s

21
1950s

16
1960s

14
1970s

22
1980s

71
1990s

76
2000s

66
2010s

40
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 14 years newer than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Nemaha County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 18 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nemaha County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dickinson County	375	47.7%	47.2%	5.1%	1974
Harper County	372	25%	65.3%	9.7%	1965
Harvey County	372	57.3%	35.5%	7.3%	1971
Saline County	369	68.6%	29.5%	1.9%	1971
Nemaha County (this page)	359	41.5%	49%	9.5%	1986
Labette County	349	38.4%	55.9%	5.7%	1957

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (359 bridges here).

Otoe County, NE · 359 bridges
Chippewa County, WI · 359 bridges
Polk County, FL · 360 bridges
St. Tammany County, LA · 360 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 359 Good 149 Fair 176 Poor 34

Poor-condition bridges (34)

Sort:

Nemaha County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nemaha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,601 vehicle crossings a day

21.7% of Nemaha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nemaha 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

Poor-condition bridges (34)

LOCAL RD. KL-1

RS 1228 L-13

LOCAL RD. H-15

RS 1228 I-13

LOCAL RD. K-1

RS 1226 R-6

LOCAL RD. H-16

RS 1228 L-12

LOCAL RD. LP-1

LOCAL RD. P-3

LOCAL RD. R-5

RS 1226 Q-9

K236 HWY

RS 1270 C-13

MINOR COL BC-2

LOCAL RD. H-14

LOCAL RD. O-7

RS 687 G-8

LOCAL RD. P-1

RS 487 G-4

RS 1757 J-15

LOCAL RD. O-14

LOCAL RD. E-12

LOCAL RD. A-2

LOCAL RD. M-1

LOCAL RD. O-22

LOCAL RD. E-17

LOCAL RD. R-25

RS 1267 C-9

LOCAL RD. J-4

LOCAL RD. EF-1

LOCAL RD. J-34

MINOR COL D-24

LOCAL RD. N-6

Related