County profile · official public datasets

Cherry County, NE

57 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.1% rated Good, 38.6% Fair, 19.3% Poor.

57
Public bridges
42.1%
Good condition
19.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cherry 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.

81st
of 88 on Poor share
19.3%
Poor-condition share
57
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.

Cherry County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cherry County ranks #81 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 19.3%). Cherry County, Nebraska contains 57 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.1% are rated “Good,” 38.6% “Fair,” and 19.3% “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

57

Public highway bridges in Cherry County

Good condition

42.1%

24 of 57 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.6%

22 of 57 rated 5-6

Poor condition

19.3%

11 of 57 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#81 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 57 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
42.1% (24)
Fair
38.6% (22)
Poor
19.3% (11)

Cherry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,227 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 19.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 112 crossings a day against 543 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 57 of 57 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

57.9% of Cherry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

33 of the 57 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 42.1% 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 87.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N12 over MINNECHADUZA CREEK, built 1958, carries 1,070 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,227 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Cherry County's bridges were built

57 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1959, 18 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Cherry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 19.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cherry County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Boyd County 64 4.7%
Sheridan County 63 0%
Gosper County 62 9.7%
Cherry County (this page) 57 19.3%
Brown County 56 7.1%
Dundy County 47 0%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (57 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1959 here).

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

All 57 Good 24 Fair 22 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (24)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: NORTH LOUP RIVER

7E 4S OF BROWNLEE, Cherry, NE

Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 10

COLL 7206

Good

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

11S 9W OF MERRIMAN, Cherry, NE

Built 1935 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 40

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: SPRING CREEK

1E 1N VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1980 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 10

COLL 7259

Good

Over: N BR MIDDLE LOUP RIVER

53S 9E OF MERRIMAN, Cherry, NE

Built 2004 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 30

COLL 7325

Good

Over: MINNECHADUZA CREEK

SE EDGE OF CROOKSTON, Cherry, NE

Built 1984 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 55

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: SPRING CREEK

1E 1.2N OF VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1993 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 30

N12

Good

Over: BIG BEAVER CREEK

8NE VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1960 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 475

US20

Good

Over: MINNECHADUZA CREEK

1W CROOKSTON, Cherry, NE

Built 1963 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 1,110

N61

Good

Over: LEANDER CREEK

JCT US20/N61 3S, Cherry, NE

Built 1949 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 205

N61

Good

Over: DRY CREEK

IN MERRIMAN, Cherry, NE

Built 1948 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 475

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: GORDON CREEK

18S 5E OF CROOKSTON, Cherry, NE

Built 2002 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: EVERGREEN CREEK

2E OF WOOD LAKE, Cherry, NE

Built 2007 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 5

US20

Good

Over: MINNECHADUZA CREEK

3E CROOKSTON, Cherry, NE

Built 1984 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 1,460

US20

Good

Over: STREAM

3NW WOOD LAKE, Cherry, NE

Built 1975 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 880

US20

Good

Over: EVERGREEN CREEK

.3NW WOODLAKE, Cherry, NE

Built 1975 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 880

R16C REC ROAD

Good

Over: BOARDMAN CREEK

1S MERRITT RESERVIOR, Cherry, NE

Built 1998 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 15

N97

Good

Over: AINSWORTH CANAL

23SW VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1989 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 500

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

8.5W 4S OF CODY, Cherry, NE

Built 1988 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 45

US20/83

Good

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

3SE VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1994 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 2,365

N61

Good

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

9S MERRIMAN, Cherry, NE

Built 2007 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 205

US83

Good

Over: NORTH LOUP RIVER

14N THOMAS/CHERRY CL, Cherry, NE

Built 1987 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 1,245

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: MINNECHADUZA CREEK

1E 2N OF VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1965 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 40

N97

Good

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

9SW VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1994 Load: 51.0 t ADT: 500

IRR/US83

Good

Over: MINNECHADUZA CREEK

.3NW VALENTINE, Cherry, NE

Built 1991 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 2,440

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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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.