County profile · official public datasets

Phillips County, KS

249 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.5% rated Good, 50.2% Fair, 15.3% Poor.

249
Public bridges: 34.5%
Good condition: 15.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

102nd
of 104 on Poor share: 15.3%
Poor-condition share: 249
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Phillips County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Phillips County ranks #102 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.3%). Phillips County, Kansas contains 249 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.5% are rated “Good,” 50.2% “Fair,” and 15.3% “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

249

Public highway bridges in Phillips County

Good condition

34.5%

86 of 249 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.2%

125 of 249 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.3%

38 of 249 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#102 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 249 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.5% (86)

Fair

50.2% (125)

Poor

15.3% (38)

Phillips County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,077 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 28 crossings a day against 455 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 249 of 249 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

61.4% of Phillips County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

153 of the 249 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 34.5% 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 22.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

W 1300 Rd (RS 530) over NORTH FORK SOLOMON, built 1953, carries 245 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 38-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,077 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1910s

7
1920s

10
1930s

17
1940s

15
1950s

32
1960s

57
1970s

14
1980s

25
1990s

24
2000s

27
2010s

13
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Phillips County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Phillips County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brown County	256	48.4%	47.7%	3.9%	1974
Phillips County (this page)	249	34.5%	50.2%	15.3%	1968
Jackson County	246	36.2%	56.9%	6.9%	1982
Norton County	244	53.7%	44.3%	2%	1980
Osborne County	244	52.5%	40.2%	7.4%	1967
Wabaunsee County	242	36.8%	52.9%	10.3%	1963

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (249 bridges here).

Brevard County, FL · 249 bridges
Carroll County, IA · 249 bridges
Lawrence County, OH · 249 bridges
Van Zandt County, TX · 249 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 249 Good 86 Fair 125 Poor 38

Fair-condition bridges (125)

Sort:

Phillips County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Phillips County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,077 vehicle crossings a day

61.4% of Phillips County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Phillips 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

Fair-condition bridges (125)

US36 HWY

US36 HWY

US36 HWY

US36 HWY

W Thunder (RS 849)

W. 1400 RD. (20)

E NAVAJO RD. (206)

US36 HWY

K9 HWY

K9 HWY

US36 HWY

W. KIOWA RD (44)

E. THUNDER RD(138)

E LIMESTONE (142)

E. CHEROKEE (161)

W. BUFFALO RD (41)

CENTER RD. Off 128

W. EAGLE RD. (16)

W. 500 RD. (98)

W. ZENITH (4)

W. 200 RD. (118)

W 1300 Rd (RS 530)

E. 300 RD. (145)

E Hunter (RS 851)

W. PRAIRIE RD (31)

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