County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, NE

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.5% rated Good, 24.1% Fair, 22.4% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 53.5%
Good condition: 22.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jefferson 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.

85th
of 88 on Poor share: 22.4%
Poor-condition share: 241
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #85 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 22.4%). Jefferson County, Nebraska contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.5% are rated “Good,” 24.1% “Fair,” and 22.4% “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 Jefferson County

Good condition

53.5%

129 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

24.1%

58 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

22.4%

54 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#85 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

53.5% (129)

Fair

24.1% (58)

Poor

22.4% (54)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,910 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 22.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 128 crossings a day against 382 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.

52.3% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

126 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 53.5% 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 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US136 over LITTLE BLUE RIVER, built 1972, carries 2,225 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 54-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,910 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

2
1930s

84
1940s

7
1950s

12
1960s

12
1970s

20
1980s

23
1990s

26
2000s

20
2010s

29
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 84 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.9% 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 Jefferson County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 22.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson 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
Holt County	241	80.1%	18.3%	1.7%	1988
Jefferson County (this page)	241	53.5%	24.1%	22.4%	1969
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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 (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 241 Good 129 Fair 58 Poor 54

All bridges (241)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,910 vehicle crossings a day

52.3% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (241)

FARMSTEAD AVE

FAS 2985

561 AVE

574TH AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US136

FAS 3005

FAS 3015

FAS 3005

711TH RD

RD 710

575 AVE

COLL 7737

COLL 7724

FAS 2985

FAS 2660

N15

FAS 2985

N8

COLL 7723

571 AVE

712 ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

722 RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2880

N8

FAS 2900

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N8

573RD AVE

N15

N8

N4

N8/N15

N8/N15

N15

572 AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

576 AVE

569 AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

710 ROAD

718 ROAD

ROMEO ROAD

570 ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

709 RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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