County profile · official public datasets

Furnas County, NE

169 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 62.7% rated Good, 27.8% Fair, 9.5% Poor.

169
Public bridges: 62.7%
Good condition: 9.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

63rd
of 88 on Poor share: 9.5%
Poor-condition share: 169
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Furnas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Furnas County ranks #63 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Furnas County, Nebraska contains 169 public highway bridges. Roughly 62.7% are rated “Good,” 27.8% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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

169

Public highway bridges in Furnas County

Good condition

62.7%

106 of 169 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.8%

47 of 169 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.5%

16 of 169 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 169 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

62.7% (106)

Fair

27.8% (47)

Poor

9.5% (16)

Furnas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,923 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 183 crossings a day against 507 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 169 of 169 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.2% of Furnas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 169 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 62.7% 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 87.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US6/US34 over ELK CREEK, built 1936, carries 2,555 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,923 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

42
1940s

8
1950s

12
1960s

3
1970s

20
1980s

20
1990s

27
2000s

14
2010s

15
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Furnas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Furnas County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hamilton County	175	32%	56%	12%	1965
Johnson County	173	47.4%	27.2%	25.4%	1971
Merrick County	173	65.3%	26%	8.7%	1976
Burt County	169	36.7%	60.4%	3%	1983
Furnas County (this page)	169	62.7%	27.8%	9.5%	1973
Antelope County	162	31.5%	53.1%	15.4%	1970

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (169 bridges here).

Pike County, AL · 169 bridges
Laurens County, GA · 169 bridges
Cumberland County, IL · 169 bridges
Union County, IA · 169 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 169 Good 106 Fair 47 Poor 16

Good-condition bridges (106)

Sort:

Furnas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Furnas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,923 vehicle crossings a day

46.2% of Furnas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 87.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Furnas 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

Good-condition bridges (106)

ROAD 705

FAS 1520

FAS 1520

FAS 1655

FAS 1665

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1450

FAS 1665

FAS 1665

ROAD 722

ROAD 721

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 722

FAS 1655

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 725

US6/US34

N46

N89

N89

N89

N89

N89

FAS 1665

US136

US283

FAS 1520

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1665

US283

US283

FAS 1655

FAS 1520

N89

N89

N89

CO RD A

N46

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 432

ROAD 706

ROAD 432

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 720

US6/US34

US6/US34

US6/US34

US6/US34

US6/US34

US6/US34

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