County profile · official public datasets

Stafford County, KS

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.4% rated Good, 46.2% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 50.4%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 40%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Stafford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Stafford County ranks #42 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Stafford County, Kansas contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.4% are rated “Good,” 46.2% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Stafford County

Good condition

50.4%

60 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.2%

55 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

4 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.4% (60)

Fair

46.2% (55)

Poor

3.4% (4)

Stafford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 55 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 14 crossings a day against 564 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.2% of Stafford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 119 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 50.4% 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 27.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NE 20 Ave over RATTLESNAKE CREEK, built 1976, carries 15 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 55 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1950s

18
1960s

27
1970s

9
1980s

20
1990s

35
2000s

7
2010s

1
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1979, 7 years newer than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Stafford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Stafford County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Doniphan County	129	50.4%	41.1%	8.5%	1977
Stafford County (this page)	119	50.4%	46.2%	3.4%	1979
Pratt County	118	65.3%	34.7%	0%	1981
Sheridan County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (119 bridges here).

Carroll County, AR · 119 bridges
Grant County, AR · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges
Ionia County, MI · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
Madison County, IL · avg 1979 · 523 bridges

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

All 119 Good 60 Fair 55 Poor 4

All bridges (119)

Sort:

SE 135 Ave

Fair

Over: N. FK. NINNESCAH RIVER

3.4S 5.5E OF STAFFORD, Stafford, KS

Built 1973 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 10

NE 170 St

Fair

Over: TRIB. TO SALT CREEK

2.0N 16.2E OF SEWARD, Stafford, KS

Built 1960 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 10

SE 110 Ave

Fair

Over: DOOLEYVILLE CREEK

3.0E and 1.7S of Stafford, Stafford, KS

Built 2000 Load: 34.4 t ADT: 25

SW 70 Ave

Fair

Over: RATTLESNAKE CREEK

6.8S OF DILLWYN, Stafford, KS

Built 1983 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 155

SE 110 Ave

Fair

Over: N. FK. NINNESCAH RIVER

3.0E and 4.1S of Stafford, Stafford, KS

Stafford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Stafford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 55 vehicle crossings a day

41.2% of Stafford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Stafford 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 (119)

SE 135 Ave

NE 170 St

SE 110 Ave

SW 70 Ave

SE 110 Ave

NE 50 St

SE 70 Ave

NW 10th Ave

NW 50 St

NE 70 St

SW 70 Ave

RS 39 - NE 80 Ave

NE 70th Ave (Left)

US50 HWY

US50 HWY

US50 HWY

US50 HWY

US50 HWY

NW 50 Ave

NE 200th St

NW 20 Ave

US50 HWY

NE 70 St

US281 HWY

NW 70 Ave

SE 20 St

US50 HWY

NW 50 St

SE 70 St

US50 HWY

NE 90 Ave

NW 70 St

US50 HWY

NW 20 St

NW 90 Ave

SE 120 Ave

NW 70th Ave

SW 140 Ave

SW 130 Ave

SW 110 Ave

SW 100 Ave

NW 30th St.

NW 90 Ave

NW 70 Ave

NW 50 St

NW 50 St

NW 70 St

NW 60 Ave

SW 60 Ave

NW 60 St

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