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

73

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.

When Dakota County's bridges were built

73 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

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

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 Poor
Phelps County 80 7.5%
Red Willow County 80 5%
Hitchcock County 77 3.9%
Deuel County 73 1.4%
Dakota County (this page) 73 9.6%
Kearney County 71 1.4%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (73)

N35

Good

Over: WEST CREEK

2SW HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 2009 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 4,220

IRR/TOWNSHIP ROAD

Good

Over: STREAM

6W US77 THURSTON CL, Dakota, NE

Built 1988 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 30

I129/US75

Good

Over: DAKOTA AVE

DAKOTA AVE/I129 INTRCHG, Dakota, NE

Built 1974 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 14,995

I129/US75

Good

Over: DAKOTA AVE

DAKOTA AVE/I129 INTRCHG, Dakota, NE

Built 1975 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 14,995

591 AVE

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

3N N9 DIXON CL, Dakota, NE

Built 2023 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 195

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

.5N 4.4W OF JACKSON, Dakota, NE

Built 1937 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: PIGEON CREEK

2.5SW HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 1997 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 40

COLL 7881

Good

Over: FIDDLERS CREEK

.4S OF HOMER, Dakota, NE

Built 2004 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 375

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: BAHAMA CREEK

5W 1S OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 2002 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 5

N35

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

4E EMERSON, Dakota, NE

Built 2020 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 4,220

FAS 3130

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

JCT N9/N35 6.1N 2.4E, Dakota, NE

Built 1988 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 100

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

.5N 4W OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 1990 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 25

US20

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

ECL JACKSON, Dakota, NE

Built 1992 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 5,970

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: ELK CREEK

4W 2.2N OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 2003 Load: 55.0 t ADT: 35

265TH STREET

Good

Over: OMAHA CREEK

2.4S OF HOMER, Dakota, NE

Built 2022 Load: 57.0 t ADT: 40

KENESAW RD

Good

Over: FIDDLERS CREEK TRIB

3.7W 1S HOMER, Dakota, NE

Built 2016 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 40

S AVE

Poor

Over: MINNOW CREEK

2.4N 5.8W OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 1950 Load: 4.0 t ADT: 65

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: ELK CREEK

.2S W EDGE OF JACKSON, Dakota, NE

Built 1910 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: PIGEON CREEK

1.5 NE OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 1935 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: MINNOW CREEK

5W 3N OF HUBBARD, Dakota, NE

Built 1940 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 5

THOMAS ST

Poor

Over: ELK CREEK

JACKSON THOMAS @ HOPE, Dakota, NE

Built 1935 Load: 12.0 t ADT: 55

JOHN ST/FAS 3940

Poor

Over: OMAHA CREEK

HOMER JOHN @ FRONT, Dakota, NE

Built 1984 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 410

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: ELK CREEK

6W OF SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Dakota, NE

Built 1995 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 30

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.