County profile · official public datasets

Sherman County, KS

105 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.5% rated Good, 28.6% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

105
Public bridges: 69.5%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 26%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 105
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.

Sherman County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sherman County ranks #27 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Sherman County, Kansas contains 105 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.5% are rated “Good,” 28.6% “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

105

Public highway bridges in Sherman County

Good condition

69.5%

73 of 105 rated 7-9

Fair condition

28.6%

30 of 105 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

2 of 105 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#27 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 105 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

69.5% (73)

Fair

28.6% (30)

Poor

1.9% (2)

Sherman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% 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 35 crossings a day against 1,870 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 104 of 105 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

81.9% of Sherman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

86 of the 105 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 69.5% 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 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

25 ROAD over SOUTH FORK BEAVER CREEK, built 1949, carries 35 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 70 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1940s

4
1950s

15
1960s

58
1970s

11
1980s

7
1990s

4
2000s

4
2010s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 55.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Sherman County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sherman County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Sherman County (this page)	105	69.5%	28.6%	1.9%	1969
Rawlins County	103	48.5%	36.9%	14.6%	1969
Clark County	102	69.6%	27.5%	2.9%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (105 bridges here).

Bradley County, AR · 105 bridges
Fulton County, AR · 105 bridges
Izard County, AR · 105 bridges
Calaveras County, CA · 105 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 105 Good 73 Fair 30 Poor 2

All bridges (105)

Sort:

Sherman County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sherman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 70 vehicle crossings a day

81.9% of Sherman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sherman 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

All bridges (105)

33 ROAD

32 ROAD

30 ROAD

32 ROAD (RS 882)

15 ROAD (RS 878)

28 ROAD (RS 116)

77 ROAD

5 ROAD (RS 877)

3 ROAD (RS 288)

11 ROAD (RS 881)

33 ROAD (RS 882)

11 ROAD (RS 881)

10 ROAD (RS 881)

5 ROAD (RS 877)

69 ROAD

35 ROAD

K27 HWY

64 ROAD (RS 2000)

64 ROAD

14 ROAD (RS 1868)

I-70 HWY WESTBOUND

I-70 HWY EASTBOUND

I-70 HWY EASTBOUND

LOCAL ROAD

LOCAL ROAD NL-SL

K27 HWY

I-70 HWY EB-WB

I-70 HWY EASTBOUND

I-70 HWY WESTBOUND

I-70 HIGHWAY

2 ROAD (RS 1753)

15 ROAD (RS 878)

28 ROAD (RS 116)

67 ROAD

15 ROAD (RS 878)

11 ROAD (RS 881)

2 ROAD (RS 1753)

10 ROAD (RS 881)

66 ROAD (RS 883)

10 ROAD (RS 881)

3 ROAD (RS 288)

3 ROAD (RS 288)

5 ROAD (RS 877)

11 ROAD (RS 881)

25 ROAD (RS 118)

33 ROAD (RS 882)

11 ROAD (RS 881)

24 ROAD (RS 118)

33 ROAD (RS 882)

17 ROAD

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