County profile · official public datasets

Russell County, KS

261 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.7% rated Good, 54.4% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

261
Public bridges: 43.7%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Russell County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 261
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Russell County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Russell County ranks #28 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Russell County, Kansas contains 261 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.7% are rated “Good,” 54.4% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

261

Public highway bridges in Russell County

Good condition

43.7%

114 of 261 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.4%

142 of 261 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

5 of 261 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#28 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 261 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.7% (114)

Fair

54.4% (142)

Poor

1.9% (5)

Russell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 940 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 188 crossings a day against 1,295 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 261 of 261 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.9% of Russell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

172 of the 261 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 43.7% 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 60.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

K18 HWY over WOLF CREEK DRAINAGE, built 1954, carries 565 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 940 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

2
1920s

7
1930s

21
1940s

13
1950s

42
1960s

77
1970s

14
1980s

51
1990s

10
2000s

16
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 77 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 6 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Russell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Russell County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Republic County	266	56%	41%	3%	1976
Rice County	262	48.9%	48.1%	3.1%	1977
Russell County (this page)	261	43.7%	54.4%	1.9%	1966
Mitchell County	260	59.6%	36.9%	3.5%	1962
Ellsworth County	259	48.6%	48.6%	2.7%	1970
Linn County	257	59.9%	35.4%	4.7%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (261 bridges here).

DeKalb County, IL · 261 bridges
Montgomery County, IL · 261 bridges
Vermilion County, LA · 261 bridges
Camden County, NJ · 261 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1966 here).

Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges
Osage County, OK · avg 1966 · 366 bridges

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

All 261 Good 114 Fair 142 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (114)

Sort:

Russell County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Russell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 940 vehicle crossings a day

65.9% of Russell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 60.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Russell 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 (114)

184TH ST.

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

MELLARD RD RS 1897

201ST RD. RS 1901

RS 2020 OLD HWY 40

RS 2020 OLD HWY 40

RS 2020 OLD HWY 40

RS 2020 OLD HWY 40

RS 2021 CANYON RD

MELLARD LN.

HOMER RD.

I-70 RD.

PLYMOUTH RD.

GRANT RD.

STICKNEY RD.

PLYMOUTH RD.

GRANT RD. OS 82

US-281 HWY

RS 1456 182ND ST.

MAIN STREET

KANSAS STREET

I70 HWY NL-SL

I70 HWY EB-WB

WALDO RD.

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

AMHERST RD RS 1896

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I70 HWY WB

US281 HWY

LOCAL ROAD

176TH RD.

FAIRPORT RD RS 515

I70 HWY NL-SL

K232 HWY

183RD ST.

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD

LAND RD.

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