County profile · official public datasets

Howard County, NE

161 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.2% rated Good, 64.6% Fair, 6.2% Poor.

161
Public bridges: 29.2%
Good condition: 6.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 88 on Poor share: 6.2%
Poor-condition share: 161
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.

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Howard County ranks #45 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.2%). Howard County, Nebraska contains 161 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.2% are rated “Good,” 64.6% “Fair,” and 6.2% “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

161

Public highway bridges in Howard County

Good condition

29.2%

47 of 161 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.6%

104 of 161 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.2%

10 of 161 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 161 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.2% (47)

Fair

64.6% (104)

Poor

6.2% (10)

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 670 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 67 crossings a day against 623 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 161 of 161 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.2% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

76 of the 161 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 29.2% 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 33.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

LIBERTY RD over STREAM, built 1935, carries 225 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 670 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

12
1940s

1
1950s

5
1960s

34
1970s

42
1980s

24
1990s

27
2000s

10
2010s

2
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Howard County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.2% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Howard County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Burt County	169	36.7%	60.4%	3%	1983
Furnas County	169	62.7%	27.8%	9.5%	1973
Antelope County	162	31.5%	53.1%	15.4%	1970
Howard County (this page)	161	29.2%	64.6%	6.2%	1977
Cheyenne County	159	82.4%	16.4%	1.3%	1973
Thurston County	152	48.7%	30.9%	20.4%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (161 bridges here).

Carroll County, IN · 161 bridges
Floyd County, KY · 161 bridges
Greenup County, KY · 161 bridges
Dade County, MO · 161 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

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

All 161 Good 47 Fair 104 Poor 10

All bridges (161)

Sort:

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 670 vehicle crossings a day

47.2% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Howard 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 (161)

INMAN RD

SHERMAN COUNTY LN

KIMBALL ROAD

12TH AVE

7TH AVE/COLL 7476

WESTRIDGE LANE

VALLEY ROAD

PAGE ROAD

SALEM RD

SHERMAN CO LINE RD

12TH AVE

PAGE RD/COLL 7482

N11

PAUL STREET

11TH AVE/COLL 7568

VALLEY RD

DANNEVIRKE RD

11TH AVE/COLL 7568

YUTAN RD

8TH AVENUE

19TH AVE

ROSE RD

WAUSA RD

TILDEN RD

N11

N92

16TH AVENUE

18TH AVE/COLL 7482

UNION RD

12TH AVENUE

VALLEY RD

N11

19TH AVENUE

N11

PAGE RD

LIBERTY RD/COL7563

WAUSAW RD

18TH AVE/COLL 7482

N11

US281/N92

WAUSA RD

HARDY RD/COLL 7565

US281

SHERNAM ROAD

17TH AVE/COLL 7482

TILDEN ROAD

SALEM RD

15TH AVENUE

7TH AVENUE

KIMBALL RD

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