County profile · official public datasets

Buffalo County, NE

459 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.5% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

459
Public bridges: 57.5%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Buffalo County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 459
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Buffalo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Buffalo County ranks #17 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Buffalo County, Nebraska contains 459 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.5% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

459

Public highway bridges in Buffalo County

Good condition

57.5%

264 of 459 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.7%

187 of 459 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

8 of 459 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#17 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 459 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.5% (264)

Fair

40.7% (187)

Poor

1.7% (8)

Buffalo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,835 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 729 crossings a day against 1,043 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 459 of 459 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

18.5% of Buffalo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 459 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 57.5% 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 63.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

11TH ST over KEARNEY CANAL, built 1994, carries 3,690 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,835 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

17
1940s

4
1950s

8
1960s

45
1970s

39
1980s

63
1990s

131
2000s

103
2010s

39
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 131 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 12 years newer than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Buffalo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Buffalo County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Douglas County	509	50.7%	46.4%	2.9%	1985
Saunders County	506	27.7%	64%	8.3%	1972
Buffalo County (this page)	459	57.5%	40.7%	1.7%	1989
Platte County	433	34.4%	60.7%	4.8%	1980
Cuming County	402	25.1%	72.9%	2%	1986
Gage County	394	36.5%	55.3%	8.1%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (459 bridges here).

Denver County, CO · 458 bridges
Luzerne County, PA · 457 bridges
Jefferson County, TX · 457 bridges
Hunt County, TX · 456 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges
Dubuque County, IA · avg 1989 · 346 bridges

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

All 459 Good 264 Fair 187 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (187)

Sort:

Buffalo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Buffalo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,835 vehicle crossings a day

18.5% of Buffalo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 63.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Buffalo 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

Fair-condition bridges (187)

N2

N40

TURKEY CREEK RD

COLL 7458

COLL 7467

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7469

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1900

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

92ND ST

COUNTY HIGHWAY

I80

I80

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7456

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2035

FAS 2035

US183

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1900

COLL 7471

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Related