Total bridges
394
Public highway bridges in Gage County
County profile · official public datasets
394 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.5% rated Good, 55.3% Fair, 8.1% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Gage 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.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gage County ranks #54 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Gage County, Nebraska contains 394 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.5% are rated “Good,” 55.3% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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
394
Public highway bridges in Gage County
Good condition
36.5%
144 of 394 rated 7-9
Fair condition
55.3%
218 of 394 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.1%
32 of 394 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#54 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 394 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 4.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 277 crossings a day against 846 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 394 of 394 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
199 of the 394 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 36.5% 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.
N4 over CUB CREEK, built 1953, carries 1,880 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 8,870 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
394 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
1 bridges
1910–1919
6 bridges
1920–1929
3 bridges
1930–1939
104 bridges
1940–1949
9 bridges
1950–1959
12 bridges
1960–1969
41 bridges
1970–1979
32 bridges
1980–1989
66 bridges
1990–1999
51 bridges
2000–2009
22 bridges
2010–2019
34 bridges
2020–2029
13 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 104 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Gage County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 11 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo County | 459 | 57.5% | 40.7% | 1.7% | 1989 |
| Platte County | 433 | 34.4% | 60.7% | 4.8% | 1980 |
| Cuming County | 402 | 25.1% | 72.9% | 2% | 1986 |
| Gage County (this page) | 394 | 36.5% | 55.3% | 8.1% | 1971 |
| Otoe County | 359 | 43.5% | 34.3% | 22.3% | 1973 |
| Dodge County | 334 | 71% | 25.4% | 3.6% | 1981 |
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 Gage County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Gage County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside NE (394 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1971 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: HOOKER CREEK
3S OF ADAMS, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
.7S 1W OF BARNESTON, Gage, NE
Over: BILLS CREEK
2W .2N OF BLUE SPRINGS, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
5W 1N OF CORTLAND, Gage, NE
Over: SHAW CREEK
2W OF ADAMS, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
BLUE SPRINGS A @ BROAD, Gage, NE
Over: BEAR CREEK
5E 5N OF BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: CLATONIA CREEK
2S 1W OF CLATONIA, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
2W 3.5N OF FILLEY, Gage, NE
Over: CLATONIA CREEK
JCT US77/N41 6W .6S, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
2.5S .7W OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: SOAP CREEK
3N .5W OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: BOTTLE CREEK
2W .5N OF BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: CUB CREEK
2S 1E OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: SPRING CREEK
2.5N 0.5W OF OKETO KS, Gage, NE
Over: SNAKE CREEK
1E 1.7N OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
.2NW OF BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
1.5S 1W OF FILLEY, Gage, NE
Over: BIG BLUE RIVER
BLUE SPRINGS BROAD @RIVER, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
7S 1.5W OF ELLIS, Gage, NE
Over: WILDCAT CREEK
3W 3.2N OF LIBERTY, Gage, NE
Over: BEAR CREEK
1.5N 2E OF BEATRICE CBD, Gage, NE
Over: INDIAN CREEK
JCT US77/S-34D 1.2E, Gage, NE
Over: INDIAN CREEK
4.5S .3W OF CORTLAND, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
JCT US77/US136 4E 1.8S, Gage, NE
Over: CUB CREEK
4W BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: SNAKE CREEK
1E 3N OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: BIG BLUE TRIB
1W BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
1.5S 2.5W OF HOAG, Gage, NE
Over: BOTTLE CREEK
2W BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
2N BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Over: STREAM
1.2N 1W OF BEATRICE, Gage, NE
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.