County profile · official public datasets

Saline County, KS

369 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.6% rated Good, 29.5% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

369
Public bridges: 68.6%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Saline County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 25%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 369
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saline County ranks #26 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Saline County, Kansas contains 369 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.6% are rated “Good,” 29.5% “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

369

Public highway bridges in Saline County

Good condition

68.6%

253 of 369 rated 7-9

Fair condition

29.5%

109 of 369 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

7 of 369 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 369 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

68.6% (253)

Fair

29.5% (109)

Poor

1.9% (7)

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,553 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 926 crossings a day against 2,309 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 368 of 369 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

240 of the 369 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 68.6% 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 75.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I135 HWY SB over I70 HIGHWAY, built 1963, carries 4,185 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,553 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

23
1930s

10
1940s

34
1950s

26
1960s

115
1970s

38
1980s

24
1990s

27
2000s

36
2010s

25
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 115 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Saline 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 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Saline County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dickinson County	375	47.7%	47.2%	5.1%	1974
Harper County	372	25%	65.3%	9.7%	1965
Harvey County	372	57.3%	35.5%	7.3%	1971
Saline County (this page)	369	68.6%	29.5%	1.9%	1971
Nemaha County	359	41.5%	49%	9.5%	1986
Labette County	349	38.4%	55.9%	5.7%	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 Saline 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 Saline County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (369 bridges here).

Suffolk County, NY · 369 bridges
Cass County, ND · 369 bridges
Waukesha County, WI · 369 bridges
Collier County, FL · 370 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 369 Good 253 Fair 109 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (253)

Sort:

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,553 vehicle crossings a day

65% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Saline 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 (253)

US81 HWY NB

LOCAL 789-490

OAKDALE AVE.

LAKEWOOD DRIVE

RS 1059 805-488.25

I70 HWY EB

LOCAL 454-759.8

LOCAL 446-811.8

RS 1778 793-452.80

RS1637

RS 1816 450-813.60

MINOR 488-789.8

I70 HWY WB

I70 HWY EB

I-135 HWY SB

I-135 HWY NB

LOCAL 486-815.2

RS 1059 490-793.20

LOCAL 478-781.8

LOCAL 807-468.5

LOCAL ROAD

I135 US81 SB

I135 US81 NB

RS 1056 813-454.72

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL 787-474.8

LOCAL ROAD

RS 450 783-474.90

US81 HWY NB

RS 1059 490-803.30

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD

Niles Road

MINOR 769-454.7

LOCAL 777-462.6

GREELEY AVENUE

RS 594 775-484.10

LOCAL 789-474.7

K4 HWY

MINOR 488-811.5

K143 HWY

LOCAL 470-805.2

WALNUT STREET

RS 522 775-456.41

LOCAL 468-807.7

MINOR 470-813

RS 594 486-771.50

K4 HWY

K4 HWY

Related