County profile · official public datasets

Cheyenne County, NE

159 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 82.4% rated Good, 16.4% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

159
Public bridges: 82.4%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cheyenne County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 159
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Cheyenne County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cheyenne County ranks #13 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Cheyenne County, Nebraska contains 159 public highway bridges. Roughly 82.4% are rated “Good,” 16.4% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

159

Public highway bridges in Cheyenne County

Good condition

82.4%

131 of 159 rated 7-9

Fair condition

16.4%

26 of 159 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

2 of 159 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 159 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

82.4% (131)

Fair

16.4% (26)

Poor

1.3% (2)

Cheyenne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,830 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,915 crossings a day against 1,629 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 159 of 159 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.3% of Cheyenne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

99 of the 159 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 82.4% 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 99.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I80 over LINK 17B & RD 77, built 1974, carries 7,800 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,830 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

11
1940s

12
1950s

1
1960s

23
1970s

67
1980s

16
1990s

12
2000s

4
2010s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 67 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 42.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Cheyenne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cheyenne 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	162	31.5%	53.1%	15.4%	1970
Howard County	161	29.2%	64.6%	6.2%	1977
Cheyenne County (this page)	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 Cheyenne 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 Cheyenne County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (159 bridges here).

Franklin County, IN · 159 bridges
Decatur County, KS · 159 bridges
Morgan County, OH · 159 bridges
Fulton County, PA · 159 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 159 Good 131 Fair 26 Poor 2

All bridges (159)

Sort:

Cheyenne County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cheyenne County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,830 vehicle crossings a day

62.3% of Cheyenne County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 99.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cheyenne 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 (159)

I80

L17C BROWNSON CNLK

L17E SUNOL CNLK

CO RD 109 MI 10936

RD 87

I80

I80

L17J SIDNEY CNLK

LINK 17C

I80

FAS 1127

CO RD 83 MI 8344

CO RD 75 MI 7506

CO RD 46-81E

CO RD 139 MI 13924

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US30

US30

US30/US385

I80

I80

WB-I80 EXIT RAMP

I80

EB-I80 ON RAMP

I80

US385

L17E SUNOL CNLK

GREENWOOD ROAD

N19

N19

N19

I80

CO RD 131 MI 13116

RD 139

RD 143

CO RD 73 MI 7332

US30

LINK 17E & RD 135

CO RD 52 MI 5295

I80

CO RD 83 MI 8328

POLE CRK CROSSING

CO RD 129 MI 12902

I80

CO RD 83 MI 8340

US30

I80

I80

I80

I80

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