County profile · official public datasets

Rush County, KS

170 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.8% rated Good, 43.5% Fair, 7.6% Poor.

170
Public bridges: 48.8%
Good condition: 7.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

80th
of 104 on Poor share: 7.6%
Poor-condition share: 170
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.

Rush County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rush County ranks #80 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.6%). Rush County, Kansas contains 170 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.8% are rated “Good,” 43.5% “Fair,” and 7.6% “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

170

Public highway bridges in Rush County

Good condition

48.8%

83 of 170 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.5%

74 of 170 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.6%

13 of 170 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#80 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 170 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.8% (83)

Fair

43.5% (74)

Poor

7.6% (13)

Rush County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,565 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 197 crossings a day against 507 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 170 of 170 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.6% of Rush County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 170 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 48.8% 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 70.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US183 HWY over WALNUT CREEK DRAINAGE, built 1932, carries 1,800 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,565 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

40
1940s

22
1950s

12
1960s

17
1970s

7
1980s

13
1990s

15
2000s

33
2010s

5
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Rush County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1964 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rush County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Morris County	179	33%	54.2%	12.8%	1967
Rush County (this page)	170	48.8%	43.5%	7.6%	1968
Rooks County	169	45%	53.3%	1.8%	1968
Ness County	167	63.5%	27.5%	9%	1961
Trego County	166	45.2%	50.6%	4.2%	1965
Pawnee County	164	37.2%	57.3%	5.5%	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 Rush 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 Rush County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (170 bridges here).

Itasca County, MN · 170 bridges
Montgomery County, MS · 170 bridges
Clarendon County, SC · 170 bridges
Brown County, SD · 170 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 170 Good 83 Fair 74 Poor 13

Fair-condition bridges (74)

Sort:

Rush County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rush County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,565 vehicle crossings a day

57.6% of Rush County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 70.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rush 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 (74)

AVE M

CR 190

CR 150

CR 180

CR 200

AVE K

CR 140

CR 390

AVE S

CR 300

AVE R

CR 300

CR 390

K4 HWY

AVE P

K4 HWY

K4 HWY

CR 230

CR 390

AVE V

CR 350

K4 HWY

AVE D

AVE X

CR 270

CR 390

K4 HWY

K-4 HWY

CR 120

CR 230

AVE D

K96 HWY

AVE C

K4 HWY

CR 170

K4 HWY

CR 200

CR 300

CR 320

AVE O

AVE D

AVE D

AVE E

AVE E

CR 110

CR 110

CR 110

CR 320

AVE X

CR 120

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