Total bridges
96
Public highway bridges in Frontier County
County profile · official public datasets
Frontier County, NE
96 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 59.4% rated Good, 20.8% Fair, 19.8% Poor.
- 96
- Public bridges
- 59.4%
- Good condition
- 19.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Frontier 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.
- 82nd
- of 88 on Poor share
- 19.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 96
- public highway bridges
- 1970
- 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.
Frontier County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Frontier County ranks #82 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 19.8%). Frontier County, Nebraska contains 96 public highway bridges. Roughly 59.4% are rated “Good,” 20.8% “Fair,” and 19.8% “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
59.4%
57 of 96 rated 7-9
Fair condition
20.8%
20 of 96 rated 5-6
Poor condition
19.8%
19 of 96 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#82 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 96 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 59.4% (57)
Fair 20.8% (20)
Poor 19.8% (19)
Frontier County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,090 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 19.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 57 crossings a day against 240 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 96 of 96 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
47.9% of Frontier County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
46 of the 96 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 59.4% 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 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
N18 over MEDICINE CREEK, built 1945, carries 490 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,090 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Frontier County's bridges were built
96 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 3
1900–1909
3 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
20 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
10 bridges
- 1950s 4
1950–1959
4 bridges
- 1960s 1
1960–1969
1 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
12 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
10 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
17 bridges
- 2010s 7
2010–2019
7 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 7 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
How Frontier County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Frontier County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 19.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier County (this page) | 96 | 59.4% | 20.8% | 19.8% | 1970 |
| Polk County | 94 | 57.4% | 30.9% | 11.7% | 1975 |
| Harlan County | 92 | 63% | 27.2% | 9.8% | 1969 |
| Dawes County | 91 | 67% | 22% | 11% | 1965 |
| Keith County | 91 | 76.9% | 23.1% | 0% | 1972 |
| Morrill County | 91 | 72.5% | 27.5% | 0% | 1969 |
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 Frontier 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 Frontier County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (96 bridges here).
- Del Norte County, CA · 96 bridges
- Routt County, CO · 96 bridges
- Blaine County, ID · 96 bridges
- Clare County, MI · 96 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1970 here).
- Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
- Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
- Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
- San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (57)
N23
GoodOver: FOX CREEK
1E CURTIS, Frontier, NE
Built 2013 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 955
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WEST MUDDY CREEK
14S 1.5W OF EUSTIS, Frontier, NE
Built 2004 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 30
N18
GoodOver: MITCHELL CREEK
5E STOCKVILLE, Frontier, NE
Built 1993 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 250
N23
GoodOver: DRY CREEK
7E CURTIS, Frontier, NE
Built 2001 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 955
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: SPRING CREEK
1N 4W OF STOCKVILLE, Frontier, NE
Built 2002 Load: 50.0 t ADT: 30
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WALNUT CREEK
2S 2E OF STOCKVILLE, Frontier, NE
Built 1981 Load: 54.0 t ADT: 30
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: EAST MUDDY CREEK
5.2S 3.5W OF EUSTIS, Frontier, NE
Built 1978 Load: 89.0 t ADT: 25
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.