County profile · official public datasets

Wilson County, KS

205 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.6% rated Good, 53.2% Fair, 12.2% Poor.

205
Public bridges: 34.6%
Good condition: 12.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wilson County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

99th
of 104 on Poor share: 12.2%
Poor-condition share: 205
public highway bridges: 1959
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.

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wilson County ranks #99 of 104 Kansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.2%). Wilson County, Kansas contains 205 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.6% are rated “Good,” 53.2% “Fair,” and 12.2% “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

205

Public highway bridges in Wilson County

Good condition

34.6%

71 of 205 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.2%

109 of 205 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.2%

25 of 205 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#99 of 104

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

Condition distribution

Share of 205 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.6% (71)

Fair

53.2% (109)

Poor

12.2% (25)

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 923 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 37 crossings a day against 1,304 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 205 of 205 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.9% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

135 of the 205 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 34.6% 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 13% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Reno Rd RS 815 over DRY CREEK, built 1975, carries 120 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 923 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

18
1930s

43
1940s

29
1950s

21
1960s

16
1970s

15
1980s

17
1990s

24
2000s

17
2010s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1959, 13 years older than the Kansas average of 1972.

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

The 5 Kansas counties nearest Wilson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 against a peer-group mean of 1968 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wilson County and the 5 Kansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ford County	223	50.2%	49.8%	0%	1972
Bourbon County	206	42.2%	42.2%	15.5%	1962
Wilson County (this page)	205	34.6%	53.2%	12.2%	1959
Atchison County	197	41.6%	48.7%	9.6%	1969
Jefferson County	194	52.1%	43.8%	4.1%	1975
Chase County	189	48.1%	45%	6.9%	1964

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KS (205 bridges here).

Geneva County, AL · 205 bridges
Russell County, AL · 205 bridges
Bell County, KY · 205 bridges
Carroll County, MD · 205 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KS (1959 here).

Tulare County, CA · avg 1959 · 589 bridges
Nassau County, NY · avg 1959 · 328 bridges
Hampshire County, MA · avg 1959 · 259 bridges
Noble County, OH · avg 1959 · 208 bridges

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

All 205 Good 71 Fair 109 Poor 25

Good-condition bridges (71)

Sort:

Wilson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wilson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 923 vehicle crossings a day

65.9% of Wilson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wilson 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 (71)

CO7-1.1 RS 1787

K-47 HWY

Newton Road

CO19-1.1 RS 229

K39 HWY

K39 HWY

US 75 HWY

661-1.2 RS 661

RS 494 1500 Rd

K39 HWY

K39 HWY

US-400 HWY

Reno Road

175 Road

RS 664 2400 Rd

RS 472 200 Rd

CO22-3.36 RS 759

US75 HWY

CO10-1.15 RS 1787

RS 472 200 Rd

Ness Road

1800 Road

US75 HWY

RS 2073 Country Rd

US-400 HWY

RS 2263 39-18.5

O.5-13.3 LOCAL

US75 HWY

RS 494 1500 Rd

K-47 HWY

2400 Rd RS 664

US-75 HIGHWAY

2300 Rd

RS 1126 1575 Rd

37-1.50 RS 375

1300 Road

US-75 HIGHWAY

RS 494 1500 Rd

800 Road

OLD K-37 Udall Rd

RS 663 2nd St

CO5-1.3 RS 1312

RS 1124 Decatur Rd

250 Rd

RS 1127 800 Rd

US 75 HWY

K-47 HWY

K-47 HWY

21.7-N.1 LOCAL

325 Rd

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