County profile · official public datasets

Osage County, KS

304 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.9% rated Good, 35.9% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

304
Public bridges: 57.9%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

70th
of 104 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 304
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Osage County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Osage County ranks #70 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Osage County, Kansas contains 304 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.9% are rated “Good,” 35.9% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

304

Public highway bridges in Osage County

Good condition

57.9%

176 of 304 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35.9%

109 of 304 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

19 of 304 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#70 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 304 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.9% (176)

Fair

35.9% (109)

Poor

6.3% (19)

Osage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,764 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 514 crossings a day against 923 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 304 of 304 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.9% of Osage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

179 of the 304 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 57.9% 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 57.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-335 HWY (KTA) SB over SOLDIER CREEK, built 1956, carries 5,650 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,764 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

5
1920s

15
1930s

30
1940s

7
1950s

25
1960s

22
1970s

82
1980s

33
1990s

41
2000s

15
2010s

21
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Osage County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Osage County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jewell County	307	57.3%	35.5%	7.2%	1972
Coffey County	305	75.4%	23.3%	1.3%	1984
Osage County (this page)	304	57.9%	35.9%	6.3%	1972
Pottawatomie County	303	48.2%	44.6%	7.3%	1975
Crawford County	297	52.9%	39.7%	7.4%	1969
Ottawa County	295	40.3%	54.9%	4.7%	1962

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (304 bridges here).

Coles County, IL · 304 bridges
Knox County, IL · 304 bridges
Marshall County, IA · 304 bridges
Nobles County, MN · 304 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 304 Good 176 Fair 109 Poor 19

Good-condition bridges (176)

Sort:

Osage County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Osage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,764 vehicle crossings a day

58.9% of Osage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Osage 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 (176)

RS 1245 18.9-10.0

K31 HWY

LOCAL RD. 204

RS 1248 3.0-11.6

RS 1248 3.0-11.7

W 157TH ST 202

Maple Street 21

S LEWELLING RD 20

E 173RD ST 45

RS 1250 18.0-16.3

DEWITT ROAD

TABER ROAD

W 141ST ST 203

RS 1466 2.0-5.3

LOCAL ROAD

SWITZLER ROAD

RS 1247 11.0-11.5

RS 1540 3.5-8.0

LOCAL ROAD

RS 1246 11.7-9.0

S MORRIL RD 4

RS 511 22.0-23.0

S INDIAN HILLS 5

S HOCH RD 36

RS 514 2.3-6.0

W 117TH ST 115

W 149TH ST 15

S DAVIS RD 42

S VALENCIA RD 67

W 189TH ST 29

S FAIRLAWN RD 168

E 341ST ST 12

125th ST. 186

LOCAL RD. 37

237TH ST 3

E 301ST ST 206

E 197TH ST 205

K68 HWY

Local RD. 22

Frontage Rd

LOCAL RD. 198

K31 HWY

S URISH RD 135

MINOR COL 122

K170 HWY

RS 152 28.0-4.8

245TH ST 73

RS 152 26.5-4.7

PRAIRIE CNTR RD

E 229TH ST 217

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