County profile · official public datasets

Pottawatomie County, KS

303 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.2% rated Good, 44.6% Fair, 7.3% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

303
Public bridges: 48.2%
Good condition: 7.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

77th
of 104 on Poor share: 7.3%
Poor-condition share: 303
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Pottawatomie County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pottawatomie County ranks #77 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Pottawatomie County, Kansas contains 303 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.2% are rated “Good,” 44.6% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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

303

Public highway bridges in Pottawatomie County

Good condition

48.2%

146 of 303 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.6%

135 of 303 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.3%

22 of 303 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#77 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 303 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.2% (146)

Fair

44.6% (135)

Poor

7.3% (22)

Pottawatomie County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,380 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 108 crossings a day against 690 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 303 of 303 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.5% of Pottawatomie County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

138 of the 303 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 48.2% 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 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ONAGA ROAD over VERMILLION RIVER, built 1968, carries 825 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,380 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

4
1920s

4
1930s

25
1940s

32
1950s

9
1960s

20
1970s

61
1980s

50
1990s

36
2000s

31
2010s

24
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Pottawatomie County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Pottawatomie 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	304	57.9%	35.9%	6.3%	1972
Pottawatomie County (this page)	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 Pottawatomie 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 Pottawatomie County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (303 bridges here).

Callaway County, MO · 303 bridges
Custer County, NE · 303 bridges
Sandusky County, OH · 303 bridges
Prince William County, VA · 303 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 303 Good 146 Fair 135 Poor 22

Good-condition bridges (146)

Sort:

Pottawatomie County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pottawatomie County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,380 vehicle crossings a day

45.5% of Pottawatomie County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pottawatomie 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 (146)

SPRING CREEK ROAD

SPRING CREEK ROAD

INDEPENDENCE ROAD

WESTMORELAND RD.

K63 HWY

SHANNON CREEK RD.

TROWBRIDGE ROAD

SAVANNAH RD

US 24 HWY

ROCKENHAM ROAD

JIM CREEK ROAD

WATERMILL ROAD

BUFFALO RUN ROAD

DUTCH HOLLOW RD.

LOST CREEK ROAD

ROBSON ROAD

EGGERS ROAD

L.K.& W. ROAD

K-99 HWY

PARALLEL ROAD

BIGELOW ROAD

BIGELOW ROAD

K99 HWY

US-24 HWY EB

HAVENSVILLE ROAD

K-99 HWY

US24 HWY

Western Street

GODLOVE ROAD

DEANE ROAD

US-24 HWY WB

ARISPIE RD

ENTR. E. CLR CR RD

ROBSON ROAD

ARISPIE ROAD

BOOTH CREEK ROAD

SCHOOL CREEK ROAD

EMMETT ROAD

FLINT ROCK ROAD

EMMETT RD

US24 HWY

MOODYVILLE ROAD

ENT. TO REC COMPLX

STRAIGHT CREEK RD

HUFF ROAD

K-16 HWY

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