County profile · official public datasets

Dakota County, NE

73 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.7% rated Good, 39.7% Fair, 9.6% Poor.

73
Public bridges: 50.7%
Good condition: 9.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Dakota County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

66th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.6%
Poor-condition share: 73
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Dakota County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dakota County ranks #66 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.6%). Dakota County, Nebraska contains 73 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.7% are rated “Good,” 39.7% “Fair,” and 9.6% “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

Public highway bridges in Dakota County

Good condition

50.7%

37 of 73 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.7%

29 of 73 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.6%

7 of 73 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 73 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.7% (37)

Fair

39.7% (29)

Poor

9.6% (7)

Dakota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 595 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 85 crossings a day against 3,841 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 73 of 73 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.6% of Dakota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 73 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 50.7% 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 68.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

JOHN ST/FAS 3940 over OMAHA CREEK, built 1984, carries 410 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 595 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1930s

10
1940s

1
1950s

8
1960s

1
1970s

23
1980s

6
1990s

8
2000s

6
2010s

4
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Dakota County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dakota County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Phelps County	80	52.5%	40%	7.5%	1980
Red Willow County	80	60%	35%	5%	1970
Hitchcock County	77	77.9%	18.2%	3.9%	1969
Deuel County	73	80.8%	17.8%	1.4%	1979
Dakota County (this page)	73	50.7%	39.7%	9.6%	1975
Kearney County	71	63.4%	35.2%	1.4%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (73 bridges here).

Stone County, AR · 73 bridges
Levy County, FL · 73 bridges
Putnam County, FL · 73 bridges
Dade County, GA · 73 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 73 Good 37 Fair 29 Poor 7

Fair-condition bridges (29)

Sort:

Dakota County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dakota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 595 vehicle crossings a day

35.6% of Dakota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 68.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dakota 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 (29)

OAKDALE ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

T AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US20

I129/US75

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 3575

US75/US77

US20

FAS 3564

N35

FAS 3925

US75/US77

US75/US77

US75/US77

G ST

COLL 7874

US77

N35

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

M AVE

NB-US77

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 3925

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