County profile · official public datasets

Washington County, KS

335 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.9% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 3.9% Poor.

335
Public bridges: 54.9%
Good condition: 3.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.9%
Poor-condition share: 335
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Washington County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Washington County ranks #46 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Washington County, Kansas contains 335 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.9% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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

335

Public highway bridges in Washington County

Good condition

54.9%

184 of 335 rated 7-9

Fair condition

41.2%

138 of 335 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.9%

13 of 335 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#46 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 335 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.9% (184)

Fair

41.2% (138)

Poor

3.9% (13)

Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,015 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 78 crossings a day against 217 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 335 of 335 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.7% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

143 of the 335 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 54.9% 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 45.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RS 1104 P-24.2 over TRIB. TO PEATS CREEK, built 1925, carries 460 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,015 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1920s

35
1930s

26
1940s

13
1950s

14
1960s

42
1970s

22
1980s

39
1990s

68
2000s

25
2010s

33
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 68 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Kansas average (1972).

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Washington County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1966 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Washington County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cowley County	337	37.4%	57.3%	5.3%	1958
Washington County (this page)	335	54.9%	41.2%	3.9%	1975
Franklin County	332	55.1%	40.7%	4.2%	1972
Miami County	326	64.7%	31.9%	3.4%	1974
Montgomery County	326	32.2%	62.3%	5.5%	1969
Marion County	324	39.2%	51.2%	9.6%	1959

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (335 bridges here).

Shelby County, IL · 335 bridges
Iredell County, NC · 335 bridges
Grand Forks County, ND · 335 bridges
Jefferson County, AR · 336 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 335 Good 184 Fair 138 Poor 13

Good-condition bridges (184)

Sort:

Washington County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Washington County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,015 vehicle crossings a day

42.7% of Washington County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Washington 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 (184)

10-M.2 100

RS 622 4-AA.9

US-36 HWY

K-19.1 155

Z-24.3 249

AA-24.9 252

U-24.5 241

M-24.4 225

DD-26.1 256

11.5-L.8 98

RS 1462 18-D.3

X-1.3 45

US-36 HWY

RS 1418 16-X.2

RS 1420 H-9.0

RS 657 R-8.5

23-G.4 213

RS 567 E-10.8

US36

19-F.2 144

S-23.1 235

25-V.4 336

T-7.4 324

339 26-Y.1

US36

RS 1097 18-I.8

29-Y.2 306

K-148 HWY

D-30.9 269

25-F.5 210

K-15 HWY

T-8.8 116

19-J.5 152

US36 HWY

Related