County profile · official public datasets

Dodge County, NE

334 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 71% rated Good, 25.4% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

334
Public bridges: 71%
Good condition: 3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Dodge County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 34%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.6%
Poor-condition share: 334
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dodge County ranks #30 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Dodge County, Nebraska contains 334 public highway bridges. Roughly 71% are rated “Good,” 25.4% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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

334

Public highway bridges in Dodge County

Good condition

71%

237 of 334 rated 7-9

Fair condition

25.4%

85 of 334 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

12 of 334 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#30 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 334 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

71% (237)

Fair

25.4% (85)

Poor

3.6% (12)

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,380 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,365 crossings a day against 1,466 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 334 of 334 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.2% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

131 of the 334 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 71% 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 23.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BELL ST over UPRR 191-707-E, built 1994, carries 9,570 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 40,380 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

10
1940s

5
1950s

7
1960s

55
1970s

97
1980s

70
1990s

32
2000s

27
2010s

19
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 97 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Dodge County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 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 Dodge County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Otoe County	359	43.5%	34.3%	22.3%	1973
Dodge County (this page)	334	71%	25.4%	3.6%	1981
Knox County	329	60.5%	36.5%	3%	1981
Cedar County	313	47%	46.6%	6.4%	1977
Saline County	312	67.3%	24.7%	8%	1981
Custer County	303	58.4%	33.7%	7.9%	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 Dodge 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 Dodge County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (334 bridges here).

Boone County, MO · 334 bridges
Washoe County, NV · 334 bridges
Shelby County, IL · 335 bridges
Washington County, KS · 335 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 334 Good 237 Fair 85 Poor 12

All bridges (334)

Sort:

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 40,380 vehicle crossings a day

39.2% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dodge 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 (334)

COLL 7857

US77/US275/N91

N79

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY ROAD H

US275

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 3490

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

N79

N79

N79

US77/US275/N91

US77/US275/N91

TOWNSHIP ROAD

N91

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

RD S

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US275

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US30

ROAD 11

TOWNSHIP ROAD

US77

COLL 7852

US30

BELL ST

TOWNSHIP ROAD

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