County profile · official public datasets

Antelope County, NE

162 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 31.5% rated Good, 53.1% Fair, 15.4% Poor.

162
Public bridges: 31.5%
Good condition: 15.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Antelope 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.

79th
of 88 on Poor share: 15.4%
Poor-condition share: 162
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Antelope County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Antelope County ranks #79 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.4%). Antelope County, Nebraska contains 162 public highway bridges. Roughly 31.5% are rated “Good,” 53.1% “Fair,” and 15.4% “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

162

Public highway bridges in Antelope County

Good condition

31.5%

51 of 162 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.1%

86 of 162 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.4%

25 of 162 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#79 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 162 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

31.5% (51)

Fair

53.1% (86)

Poor

15.4% (25)

Antelope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,680 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 227 crossings a day against 876 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 162 of 162 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.3% of Antelope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 162 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 31.5% 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 61.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US275 over CEDAR CREEK, built 1935, carries 3,500 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 5,680 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

6
1920s

1
1930s

30
1940s

1
1950s

15
1960s

26
1970s

26
1980s

8
1990s

18
2000s

12
2010s

14
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 7 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

How Antelope County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Antelope County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Antelope County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Burt County	169	36.7%	60.4%	3%	1983
Furnas County	169	62.7%	27.8%	9.5%	1973
Antelope County (this page)	162	31.5%	53.1%	15.4%	1970
Howard County	161	29.2%	64.6%	6.2%	1977
Cheyenne County	159	82.4%	16.4%	1.3%	1973
Thurston County	152	48.7%	30.9%	20.4%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (162 bridges here).

Perry County, AL · 162 bridges
Johnson County, AR · 162 bridges
Ouachita County, AR · 162 bridges
Bond County, IL · 162 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 162 Good 51 Fair 86 Poor 25

All bridges (162)

Sort:

Antelope County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Antelope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,680 vehicle crossings a day

54.3% of Antelope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 61.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Antelope County compares with Nebraska'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 (162)

848TH ROAD

COLL 7644

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US275

847TH ROAD

846TH RD

514TH AVE

US275

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2615

US275

837TH RD

513TH ST

TOWNSHIP ROAD

866TH ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US20

N14/N70

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US275

839TH RD

US275

US275

838TH RD

521ST AVE

848TH ROAD

529TH RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

843RD RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7652

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7652

FAS 2605

N14

US275

US275

US275

US275

US275

US275

N14/N70

FAS 2607

HOMAN ST/FAS 2595

TOWNSHIP ROAD

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