How safe are Kansas’ bridges? See how many are classified as ‘poor’ in each county

Devon Milley
·2 min read

Editor’s note: This story and visualization are part of our new “Data In Your Life” series, in which we mine public databases to tell quick stories about the world around us.

In the early hours of March 26, a 985-foot container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing a portion of the 1.6-mile-long bridge down in less than 40 seconds.

Although the Key Bridge might have fallen no matter its condition, the high-profile accident focused attention on bridge safety across the nation.

The Federal Highway Administration maintains a public database of bridge ratings in every state that considers multiple parts of a bridge’s structure, including the deck, superstructure, substructure and culvert.

The federal government assigns three designations to rate the condition of bridges: Good, fair and poor. In 2023, the Key Bridge was in the “fair” group, along with about 49% of the country’s bridges. Another 44% are rated “good” and almost 7% are “poor.”

Did Key Bridge’s condition contribute to collapse?

The Key Bridge in Baltimore relied on piers, which were essential to its structural integrity.

Without sufficient protective barriers surrounding the piers, other bridge components couldn’t compensate for the missing support when the large container ship, called the Dali, crashed into one of the piers, The New York Times reported in March. Even with stronger protective barriers, it’s possible the bridge still wouldn’t have been able to withstand a hit from such a large ship.

How safe are the bridge in Kansas?

In Kansas, 41.9% of the state’s thousands of bridges carry the “fair” rating. About 5.2%, or 1,305, of Kansas’ bridges were rated as in “poor” condition as of 2023. The data does not include the commonly used names of the bridges.

In the Wichita area, Sedgwick County has 3% of bridges considered poor, Butler County has 6.7% and Harvey County has 7.5%.

Some of the Kansas counties with the most bridges in poor condition include Greenwood and Bourbon counties in the southeast part of the state, and Rawlins and Phillips counties in the northwest.

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