County profile · official public datasets

Sheridan County, KS

116 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.9% rated Good, 39.7% Fair, 9.5% Poor.

116
Public bridges: 50.9%
Good condition: 9.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

87th
of 104 on Poor share: 9.5%
Poor-condition share: 116
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Sheridan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sheridan County ranks #87 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Sheridan County, Kansas contains 116 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.9% are rated “Good,” 39.7% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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

116

Public highway bridges in Sheridan County

Good condition

50.9%

59 of 116 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.7%

46 of 116 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.5%

11 of 116 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#87 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 116 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.9% (59)

Fair

39.7% (46)

Poor

9.5% (11)

Sheridan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 265 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 24 crossings a day against 248 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 116 of 116 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.5% of Sheridan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 116 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 50.9% 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 18.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

100 E over BOW CREEK, built 1972, carries 50 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 265 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

4
1940s

11
1950s

32
1960s

20
1970s

8
1980s

5
1990s

15
2000s

11
2010s

5
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 32 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Sheridan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 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 Sheridan County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Stafford County	119	50.4%	46.2%	3.4%	1979
Pratt County	118	65.3%	34.7%	0%	1981
Sheridan County (this page)	116	50.9%	39.7%	9.5%	1969
Comanche County	110	50.9%	48.2%	0.9%	1967
Gove County	109	45%	53.2%	1.8%	1968
Hodgeman County	109	44%	54.1%	1.8%	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 Sheridan 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 Sheridan County, both outside Kansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (116 bridges here).

Howard County, AR · 116 bridges
Cassia County, ID · 116 bridges
Worth County, IA · 116 bridges
Caldwell County, KY · 116 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 116 Good 59 Fair 46 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (46)

Sort:

Sheridan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sheridan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 265 vehicle crossings a day

65.5% of Sheridan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sheridan 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 (46)

110 N

30 W

130 N

90 S

140 N

50 W

110 E (RS 897)

10 N

60 E

30 W

100 N

150 S

30 E

40 S

40 S

110 W (RS 1674)

70 E (RS 894)

140 E (RS 895)

50 E (RS 894)

K23 HWY

140 N

140 E (RS 276)

40 W (RS 1765)

45 E (RS 896)

70 W (RS 623)

100 W (RS 273)

110 W (RS 1927)

120 S (RS 624)

70 E (RS 894)

140 E (RS 895)

140 E (RS 276)

50 W

10 E

130 N (RS 890)

140 E (RS 895)

80 N

80 W (RS 273)

50 W

80 N

K23 HWY

80 W (RS 273)

K23 HWY

K23 HWY

US24 HWY

70 E (RS 894)

150 N

Related