County profile · official public datasets

Holt County, NE

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 80.1% rated Good, 18.3% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 80.1%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Holt County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 241
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Holt County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Holt County ranks #16 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Holt County, Nebraska contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 80.1% are rated “Good,” 18.3% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

241

Public highway bridges in Holt County

Good condition

80.1%

193 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

18.3%

44 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

4 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 241 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

80.1% (193)

Fair

18.3% (44)

Poor

1.7% (4)

Holt County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,355 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 839 crossings a day against 301 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 241 of 241 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

14.9% of Holt County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 241 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 80.1% 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 98.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US20/US275 over ELKHORN RIVER, built 1937, carries 3,315 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,355 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

18
1940s

3
1950s

11
1960s

3
1970s

11
1980s

76
1990s

61
2000s

27
2010s

21
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 11 years newer than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Holt County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 13 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Holt County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	251	55%	35.5%	9.6%	1978
Scotts Bluff County	250	64%	30.8%	5.2%	1972
Seward County	244	66.4%	25.8%	7.8%	1980
Jefferson County	241	53.5%	24.1%	22.4%	1969
Holt County (this page)	241	80.1%	18.3%	1.7%	1988
Boone County	237	66.7%	29.5%	3.8%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (241 bridges here).

Sumter County, AL · 241 bridges
Hardin County, IA · 241 bridges
Iowa County, IA · 241 bridges
Barber County, KS · 241 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 241 Good 193 Fair 44 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (193)

Sort:

Holt County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Holt County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,355 vehicle crossings a day

14.9% of Holt County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 98.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Holt 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 (193)

FAS 2290

887TH RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

873 RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

464TH AVE

503RD RD

COLL 7495

COLL 7516

COLL 7503

COLL 7428

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 2105

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7504

468TH AVE

TOWNSHIP ROAD

N11

US275

COUNTY HIGHWAY

893RD RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7495

488TH AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

488TH AVE

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 2270

CO RD

890 RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

470TH AVE

477TH AVE

COLL 7497

COUNTY HIGHWAY

882ND ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 1970

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7524

888TH RD

US20

US20/US275

US20/US275

US20/US275

US20/US275

US20/US275

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