County profile · official public datasets

Osborne County, KS

244 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.5% rated Good, 40.2% Fair, 7.4% Poor.

244
Public bridges: 52.5%
Good condition: 7.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Osborne 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.

78th
of 104 on Poor share: 7.4%
Poor-condition share: 244
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Osborne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Osborne County ranks #78 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.4%). Osborne County, Kansas contains 244 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.5% are rated “Good,” 40.2% “Fair,” and 7.4% “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

244

Public highway bridges in Osborne County

Good condition

52.5%

128 of 244 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.2%

98 of 244 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.4%

18 of 244 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#78 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 244 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.5% (128)

Fair

40.2% (98)

Poor

7.4% (18)

Osborne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,395 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 78 crossings a day against 224 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 241 of 244 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.2% of Osborne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

159 of the 244 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 52.5% 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 47% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US24 HWY over S F SOLOMON R DRAIN, built 1957, carries 655 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 1,395 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

5
1920s

10
1930s

21
1940s

17
1950s

37
1960s

57
1970s

19
1980s

25
1990s

17
2000s

18
2010s

10
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 5 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Osborne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Osborne County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County	246	36.2%	56.9%	6.9%	1982
Norton County	244	53.7%	44.3%	2%	1980
Osborne County (this page)	244	52.5%	40.2%	7.4%	1967
Wabaunsee County	242	36.8%	52.9%	10.3%	1963
Barber County	241	44.8%	53.9%	1.2%	1974
Leavenworth County	241	61%	36.1%	2.9%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (244 bridges here).

Spencer County, IN · 244 bridges
Allegan County, MI · 244 bridges
Seward County, NE · 244 bridges
Alamance County, NC · 244 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 244 Good 128 Fair 98 Poor 18

Good-condition bridges (128)

Sort:

Osborne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Osborne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,395 vehicle crossings a day

65.2% of Osborne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Osborne 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 (128)

S 20th AVE_RS 866

K18 HWY

W 75th DR (RS 615)

S. 260th AVE.

S 160th AVE_RS 865

W 260th DR_RS 865

W 260th DR_RS 1538

S. 1st AVE.

S. 230th AVE.

S 170th AVE_RS 864

10th AVE.

W. 100th DR.

W 10th DR (RS 863)

S. 150TH AVE

US281 HWY

S 170th AVE_RS 516

S 170th AVE_RS 865

S 280th AVE_RS 515

S 250th AVE_RS 515

W. 190th DR.

US24 HWY

US24 HWY

ENTRANCE LEFT

W 130th DR_RS 864

W 10th DR (RS 863)

W 10th DR (RS 863)

S 170th AVE_RS 865

W 300th DR_RS 866

US24 HWY

SIDEROAD LEFT

US24 HWY

S. 50th AVE.

W. 115th DR.

S 150th AVE_RS 516

W 90th DR (517)

S 20th AVE_RS 866

W 260th DR_RS 1538

W 260th DR_RS 1538

W 80 TH DR (LEFT)

SIDEROAD RIGHT

ENTRANCE RIGHT

US281 HWY

US281 HWY

S. 70th AVE.

W 220th DR_RS 516

S 160th AVE_RS 516

W 90th DR (RS 517)

CO 691 AVE_RS 832

W 10th DR_RS 867

S. 150th AVE.

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