Total bridges
211
Public highway bridges in Butler County
County profile · official public datasets
Butler County, NE
211 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.4% rated Good, 76.8% Fair, 2.8% Poor.
- 211
- Public bridges
- 20.4%
- Good condition
- 2.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Butler 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 25%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 211
- public highway bridges
- 1983
- 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.
Butler County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #22 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Butler County, Nebraska contains 211 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.4% are rated “Good,” 76.8% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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
20.4%
43 of 211 rated 7-9
Fair condition
76.8%
162 of 211 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.8%
6 of 211 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#22 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 211 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 20.4% (43)
Fair 76.8% (162)
Poor 2.8% (6)
Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 80 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 13 crossings a day against 2,357 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 211 of 211 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
28.4% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
60 of the 211 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 20.4% 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 25% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
COUNTY ROAD VW over MIDDLE OAK CREEK, built 1935, carries 20 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 80 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Butler County's bridges were built
211 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
30 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 17
1960–1969
17 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
21 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
27 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
50 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
44 bridges
- 2010s 12
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 6
2020–2029
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 6 years newer than the Nebraska average of 1977.
How Butler County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 7 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanton County | 223 | 48.4% | 42.2% | 9.4% | 1983 |
| Thayer County | 220 | 55% | 40% | 5% | 1968 |
| Fillmore County | 218 | 69.7% | 21.6% | 8.7% | 1978 |
| Adams County | 211 | 60.2% | 33.6% | 6.2% | 1978 |
| Butler County (this page) | 211 | 20.4% | 76.8% | 2.8% | 1983 |
| York County | 205 | 57.6% | 39.5% | 2.9% | 1974 |
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 Butler 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 Butler County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (211 bridges here).
- Colusa County, CA · 211 bridges
- Charlotte County, FL · 211 bridges
- Kemper County, MS · 211 bridges
- Pike County, MS · 211 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1983 here).
- Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
- Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
- Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
- Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (211)
COUNTY ROAD 41
GoodOver: SKULL CREEK
.5E ABIE, Butler, NE
Built 2016 Load: 52.0 t ADT: 202
COUNTY ROAD 39
GoodOver: BONE CREEK
2.5S 1.4W OCTAVIA, Butler, NE
Built 2023 Load: 57.0 t ADT: 15
COUNTY ROAD U
GoodOver: STREAM
1S 1.8W ABIE, Butler, NE
Built 2023 Load: 57.0 t ADT: 10
COUNTY ROAD 23 1/2
GoodOver: OAK CREEK TRIBUTARY
1.5 E OF DWIGHT, Butler, NE
Built 2023 Load: 60.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY ROAD 27
GoodOver: PLUM CREEK
3.3N .2W DWIGHT, Butler, NE
Built 2023 Load: 62.0 t ADT: 30
TOWNSHIP ROAD
PoorOver: S CH PLATTE RIVER
2.8N 4.8W BELLWOOD, Butler, NE
Built 1891 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15
COUNTY ROAD E
PoorOver: BIG BLUE RIVER
.5E .3S SURPRISE, Butler, NE
Built 1897 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15
COUNTY ROAD 42
PoorOver: STREAM
1N .5W ABIE, Butler, NE
Built 1935 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15
COUNTY ROAD 33
PoorOver: STREAM
1.9W 1.7S DAVID CITY, Butler, NE
Built 1935 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 10
COUNTY ROAD 39
PoorOver: STREAM
2.5S 2.4W OCTAVIA, Butler, NE
Built 1935 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 5
COUNTY ROAD VW
PoorOver: MIDDLE OAK CREEK
1.8E .4SE BRAINARD, Butler, NE
Built 1935 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 20
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.