Total bridges
205
Public highway bridges in Wilson County
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.
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.
When Wilson County's bridges were built
205 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
18 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
43 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
29 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
21 bridges
- 1960s 16
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s 15
1970–1979
15 bridges
- 1980s 17
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
24 bridges
- 2000s 17
2000–2009
17 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (71)
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: Fall Rvr & Implemnt Pass
10.25 MI SE K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 4,230
US-75 HWY
GoodOver: US-400 HWY
1.97 MI N MONTGOMERY COLN, Wilson, KS
Built 1999 Load: 46.8 t ADT: 3,010
K-47 HWY
GoodOver: CHETOPA CREEK
6.90 MI E US-75, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 47.2 t ADT: 1,870
900 Road
GoodOver: RAINBOW CREEK
2.0S 1.3W OF FREDONIA, Wilson, KS
Built 1999 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 30
CO22-1.15 RS 759
GoodOver: TRIB. TO FALL RIVER
1.2W OF FREDONIA, Wilson, KS
Built 1994 Load: 48.4 t ADT: 605
700 Road
GoodOver: CHETOPA CREEK
3.5S 1.5E OF ALTOONA, Wilson, KS
Built 2004 Load: 48.6 t ADT: 40
800 Rd RS 1127
GoodOver: CHETOPA CREEK
3.0S 4.4E OF ALTOONA, Wilson, KS
Built 2006 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 64
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER DRAINAGE
7.27 MI SE K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1996 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 4,720
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER
10.05 MI SE K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 4,230
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: SALT CREEK
8.53 MI SE GREENWOOD COLN, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 3,710
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: SALT CREEK TRIBUTARY
9.85 MI SE GREENWOOD COLN, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 3,710
US 75 HIGHWAY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER DRAINAGE
.47 MI N U400 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 2001 Load: 52.6 t ADT: 3,010
OLD K-39
GoodOver: TRIB TO SALT CREEK
1.5 N of fredonia, Wilson, KS
Built 2008 Load: 53.4 t ADT: 1,905
US-75 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER
1.01 MI N U400 NJCT, Wilson, KS
Built 2001 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 3,010
1124-0.4 RS 1124
GoodOver: BRUSH CREEK
0.9S OF COYVILLE, Wilson, KS
Built 1930 Load: 56.0 t ADT: 95
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: CLEAR CREEK
0.88 MI S K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 56.2 t ADT: 4,720
CO3-4.35 RS 492
GoodOver: WASHINGTON
1.0N 4.1E OF NEODESHA, Wilson, KS
Built 2009 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 365
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER DRAINAGE
8.99 MI SE K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1996 Load: 61.7 t ADT: 4,230
US-75 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER TRIBUTARY
0.32 MI NE U400 NJCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1999 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 3,010
US-400 HWY
GoodOver: FALL RIVER (RELIEF)
10.42 MI SE K47 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 73.5 t ADT: 2,115
K-39 HWY
GoodOver: TEETERS BRANCH
0.24 MI N U400 JCT, Wilson, KS
Built 1997 Load: 90.7 t ADT: 545
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.