Total bridges
91
Public highway bridges in Dawes County
County profile · official public datasets
Dawes County, NE
91 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67% rated Good, 22% Fair, 11% Poor.
- 91
- Public bridges
- 67%
- Good condition
- 11%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Dawes 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.
- 70th
- of 88 on Poor share
- 11%
- Poor-condition share
- 91
- public highway bridges
- 1965
- 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.
Dawes County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dawes County ranks #70 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11%). Dawes County, Nebraska contains 91 public highway bridges. Roughly 67% are rated “Good,” 22% “Fair,” and 11% “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
67%
61 of 91 rated 7-9
Fair condition
22%
20 of 91 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11%
10 of 91 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#70 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 91 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 67% (61)
Fair 22% (20)
Poor 11% (10)
Dawes County's Poor-condition bridges carry 485 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 49 crossings a day against 1,098 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 91 of 91 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
58.2% of Dawes County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
53 of the 91 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 67% 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 46.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
S23A WHITNEY SPUR over WHITE RIVER, built 1937, carries 225 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 485 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Dawes County's bridges were built
91 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
27 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s 9
1960–1969
9 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s 7
1980–1989
7 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
17 bridges
- 2000s 5
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 12 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
How Dawes County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Dawes County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 6 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polk County | 94 | 57.4% | 30.9% | 11.7% | 1975 |
| Harlan County | 92 | 63% | 27.2% | 9.8% | 1969 |
| Keith County | 91 | 76.9% | 23.1% | 0% | 1972 |
| Morrill County | 91 | 72.5% | 27.5% | 0% | 1969 |
| Dawes County (this page) | 91 | 67% | 22% | 11% | 1965 |
| Kimball County | 88 | 70.5% | 28.4% | 1.1% | 1971 |
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 Dawes 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 Dawes County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (91 bridges here).
- Baxter County, AR · 91 bridges
- Breckinridge County, KY · 91 bridges
- Reynolds County, MO · 91 bridges
- Lee County, SC · 91 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1965 here).
- Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
- Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
- Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
- Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (20)
CONNELL ROAD
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
NJCT US20/N71 4.2N 5.9E., Dawes, NE
Built 1991 Load: 2.0 t ADT: 30
WEST ASH ROAD
FairOver: WEST ASH CREEK
NJCT US20/N71 .4S 6.5E, Dawes, NE
Built 1993 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
.9N OF CRAWFORD, Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 50
Lembke Rd
FairOver: Mirage Flats Canal
25.8 mi S-SE of Chadron, Dawes, NE
Built 1945 Load: 5.2 t ADT: 5
COLL 7189
FairOver: STREAM
JCT US20/US385 4.5E 3.4NE, Dawes, NE
Built 1936 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 50
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: STREAM
7.4W .5S OF CHADRON, Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 30
BUTTERMILK ROAD
FairOver: CHADRON CREEK
EJCT US20/US385 4S .4W, Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 30
OLD HIGHWAY 20
FairOver: STREAM
NJCT US20/N71 8.9NE 2.5NE, Dawes, NE
Built 1937 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 80
HERFORD RD.
FairOver: STREAM
WJCTUS20/US385 14.9S 1.5E, Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 10
FAS 1110
FairOver: STREAM
SJCT US20/N71 16.3S 4.5E, Dawes, NE
Built 1934 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 95
COLL 7183
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
NJCT US20/N71 3.6N 4.6NE, Dawes, NE
Built 1985 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 35
ALPHA ROAD
FairOver: BORDEAUX CREEK
JCT US20/US385 3.5E .4NE, Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 30
US20
FairOver: INDIAN CREEK
10W CHADRON, Dawes, NE
Built 1961 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 1,875
HOLLIBAUGH RD
FairOver: STREAM
SJCT US20/N2 10.7S 8E., Dawes, NE
Built 1935 Load: 25.0 t ADT: 30
N71
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
1N CRAWFORD, Dawes, NE
Built 1959 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 345
FAS 1205 DEAD HORS
FairOver: DEAD HORSE CREEK
WJCT US20/US385 9.5S 1W, Dawes, NE
Built 1989 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 75
GALEY ROAD
FairOver: WHITE RIVER
NJCT US20/N71 8.9NE 3.1N, Dawes, NE
Built 1992 Load: 42.0 t ADT: 50
FAS 1190 BERGFIELD
FairOver: BIG COTTONWOOD CREEK
NJCT US20/S2 8.5N 5E., Dawes, NE
Built 1991 Load: 54.0 t ADT: 65
COLL 7189 LONG RD.
FairOver: STREAM
WJCTUS20/US385 13.1S 11E, Dawes, NE
Built 2003 Load: 57.0 t ADT: 45
FAS1205DEAD HORSE
FairOver: DEAD HORSE CREEK
WJCT US20/US385 11S .1E, Dawes, NE
Built 2000 Load: 67.0 t ADT: 75
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.