County profile · official public datasets

Gage County, NE

394 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.5% rated Good, 55.3% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

394
Public bridges: 36.5%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

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.

54th
of 88 on Poor share: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 394
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Gage County Bridge Snapshot

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

Condition distribution

Share of 394 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.5% (144)

Fair

55.3% (218)

Poor

8.1% (32)

Gage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,870 vehicle crossings a day

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.

50.5% of Gage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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.

One structure carries 21.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

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.

1900s

1
1910s

6
1920s

3
1930s

104
1940s

9
1950s

12
1960s

41
1970s

32
1980s

66
1990s

51
2000s

22
2010s

34
2020s

13

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.

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

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gage County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Gage County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (394 bridges here).

Essex County, MA · 395 bridges
Creek County, OK · 395 bridges
Minnehaha County, SD · 393 bridges
Humboldt County, CA · 396 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 394 Good 144 Fair 218 Poor 32

All bridges (394)

Sort:

Gage County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,870 vehicle crossings a day

50.5% of Gage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gage 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 (394)

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

A STREET

N8

N8

N41

N41

US77

US77

N112

CENTER ST/FAU 6103

FAS 3220

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 3295

HOYT RD

EAST OLIVE ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

SW 61ST ROAD

FAS 2920

FAS 3212

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 3295

_

W BUCKEYE RD

WEST BUCKEYE ROAD

WEST CHESTNUT RD

SO 23 ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

W OSAGE RD

FAS 2880

FAS 3265

TOWNSHIP ROAD

W. HACKBERRY ROAD

SOUTH 148TH ROAD

LOCUST RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

SW 72 ROAD

FAS 3285 S 134 RD

FAS 3200

FAS 3200

EAST WILLOW ROAD

S 38 RD

68 RD

FAS 3202

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