County profile · official public datasets

Gosper County, NE

62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67.7% rated Good, 22.6% Fair, 9.7% Poor.

62
Public bridges: 67.7%
Good condition: 9.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

67th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.7%
Poor-condition share: 62
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Gosper County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gosper County ranks #67 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.7%). Gosper County, Nebraska contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 67.7% are rated “Good,” 22.6% “Fair,” and 9.7% “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

Public highway bridges in Gosper County

Good condition

67.7%

42 of 62 rated 7-9

Fair condition

22.6%

14 of 62 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.7%

6 of 62 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#67 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

67.7% (42)

Fair

22.6% (14)

Poor

9.7% (6)

Gosper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,300 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 217 crossings a day against 219 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.6% of Gosper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

19 of the 62 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 67.7% 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 93.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

JOHNSON LAKE DR over TRI-COUNTY SUPPLY CANAL, built 1935, carries 1,220 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,300 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

1
1930s

4
1950s

3
1960s

3
1970s

13
1980s

16
1990s

9
2000s

4
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Gosper County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gosper County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kearney County	71	63.4%	35.2%	1.4%	1978
Boyd County	64	81.3%	14.1%	4.7%	1987
Sheridan County	63	85.7%	14.3%	0%	1965
Gosper County (this page)	62	67.7%	22.6%	9.7%	1977
Cherry County	57	42.1%	38.6%	19.3%	1959
Brown County	56	42.9%	50%	7.1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (62 bridges here).

Conejos County, CO · 62 bridges
Pitkin County, CO · 62 bridges
Gulf County, FL · 62 bridges
Pickens County, GA · 62 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

Fair

Over: LATERAL E-65

1E OF SMITHFIELD, Gosper, NE

Gosper County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gosper County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,300 vehicle crossings a day

30.6% of Gosper County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 93.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gosper 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 (62)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

R37B FAS 1687

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 738

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1550

FAS 1695

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1655

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1655

COLL 7354

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7375

FAS 1530

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US283

ROAD 435

N18

FAS 1655

FAS 1530

FAS 1685

RD 431

FAS 1530

FAS 1695

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1530

COLL 7351

N18

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7356

N18

US283

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1550

N23

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7351

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7351

ROAD 731

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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