County profile · official public datasets

Harlan County, NE

92 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63% rated Good, 27.2% Fair, 9.8% Poor.

92
Public bridges: 63%
Good condition: 9.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Harlan 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.

68th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.8%
Poor-condition share: 92
public highway bridges: 1969
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.

Harlan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Harlan County ranks #68 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.8%). Harlan County, Nebraska contains 92 public highway bridges. Roughly 63% are rated “Good,” 27.2% “Fair,” and 9.8% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Harlan County

Good condition

63%

58 of 92 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.2%

25 of 92 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.8%

9 of 92 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#68 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 92 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63% (58)

Fair

27.2% (25)

Poor

9.8% (9)

Harlan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 587 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 65 crossings a day against 765 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 92 of 92 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.1% of Harlan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 92 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 63% 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 39.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CORNWALL ST over DRY CREEK, built 1924, carries 230 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 587 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

26
1940s

7
1950s

4
1960s

3
1970s

4
1980s

13
1990s

7
2000s

17
2010s

4
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 8 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Harlan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Harlan County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Frontier County	96	59.4%	20.8%	19.8%	1970
Polk County	94	57.4%	30.9%	11.7%	1975
Harlan County (this page)	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 Harlan 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 Harlan County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (92 bridges here).

Douglas County, GA · 92 bridges
Taylor County, KY · 92 bridges
Waldo County, ME · 92 bridges
Camden County, MO · 92 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1969 here).

Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges

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

All 92 Good 58 Fair 25 Poor 9

All bridges (92)

Sort:

Harlan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Harlan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 587 vehicle crossings a day

51.1% of Harlan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Harlan 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 (92)

H ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

KODIAK ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7346

L ROAD

720 ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

716 ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

ELGIN ST

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

CO.RTE. A

COUNTY RTE. A

MAPLE STREET

N RAILROAD ST

FAS 1845

US136

COLL 7369

COLL 7369

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US136/N46

US6/US34

707TH RD

FAS 1750

FAS 1750

COUNTY HIGHWAY

714TH RD

COLL 7350

US6/US34

US6/US34

US6/US34

N46

US136

US136

US136

US183

COLL 7346

US136

FAS 1750

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1750

N4

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1805

Road A

BRIGHT STREET

US6/US34

Related