Total bridges
173
Public highway bridges in Johnson County
County profile · official public datasets
173 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.4% rated Good, 27.2% Fair, 25.4% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Johnson 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.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Johnson County ranks #86 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.4%). Johnson County, Nebraska contains 173 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.4% are rated “Good,” 27.2% “Fair,” and 25.4% “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
173
Public highway bridges in Johnson County
Good condition
47.4%
82 of 173 rated 7-9
Fair condition
27.2%
47 of 173 rated 5-6
Poor condition
25.4%
44 of 173 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#86 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 173 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 41 crossings a day against 453 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 173 of 173 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
78 of the 173 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 47.4% 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.
N62 over N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER, built 1958, carries 380 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,795 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
173 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1910–1919
2 bridges
1930–1939
55 bridges
1940–1949
3 bridges
1950–1959
15 bridges
1960–1969
2 bridges
1970–1979
8 bridges
1980–1989
24 bridges
1990–1999
27 bridges
2000–2009
14 bridges
2010–2019
14 bridges
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Johnson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierce County | 177 | 39% | 47.5% | 13.6% | 1968 |
| Hamilton County | 175 | 32% | 56% | 12% | 1965 |
| Merrick County | 173 | 65.3% | 26% | 8.7% | 1976 |
| Johnson County (this page) | 173 | 47.4% | 27.2% | 25.4% | 1971 |
| Burt County | 169 | 36.7% | 60.4% | 3% | 1983 |
| Furnas County | 169 | 62.7% | 27.8% | 9.5% | 1973 |
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 Johnson County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Johnson County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside NE (173 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1971 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: YANKEE CREEK
NCL CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: TURKEY CREEK
2.5S 4W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: S FK LITTLE NEMAHA RIVER
4W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
2W 2.25N OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: SPRING CREEK
JCT US136/N50 3E 1N, Johnson, NE
Over: LONG BRANCH
3N 1.7E OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
JCT US136/N50 1NE, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
1.5N 1.5W STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
9W N50 OTOE CL, Johnson, NE
Over: CORSON BRANCH
2S OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
1.5E 1.5N OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
WCL COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER
JCT N41/N50 11W 2.5N, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
W EDGE OF VESTA, Johnson, NE
Over: PRATTS BRANCH
.2NE OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
JCT N50/S-49A 6W .4S, Johnson, NE
Over: TOWN BRANCH
2.5N OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: SAMPSON BRANCH
2S 5E CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: BADGER BRANCH
6.5E 1S OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: MANNS BRANCH
JCT N41/N50 3E 2.9N, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
IN SAINT MARY, Johnson, NE
Over: SPRING CREEK
JCT N41/N50 1S 3.5E, Johnson, NE
Over: M2415M2205
TECUMSEH CALHOUN @ FIFTH, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
1E STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
2E STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
4E STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
1W ST. MARY, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
2E 2S OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
1S 1W OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: SPRING CREEK
2S 3.5E OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
1W CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
2.5E 2N OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
.5W OF VESTA, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
JCT US136/S-49C 1.4E .8N, Johnson, NE
Over: YANKEE CREEK
.2S OF VESTA, Johnson, NE
Over: TODD CREEK
5S 2.2W OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: ROBINSON CREEK
1E ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
.2W TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: DEER CREEK
1.1S 2.3W OF ST. MARY, Johnson, NE
Over: TURKEY CREEK
6.7E OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Over: COON CREEK
1SW OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER
1W TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
3N 2.7E OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Over: COON CREEK
2S .5W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Over: NO. FR. BIG NEMAHA RIV.
1W TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Over: STREAM
.5E 2N OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Over: SAMPSON BRANCH
.5S 9W OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Over: TODD CREEK TRIB
JCT US136/N50 6S, Johnson, NE
Over: S FK LITTLE NEMAHA RIVER
JCT N50/S-49A 2.2E, Johnson, NE
Over: TODD CREEK
1.5S 1.5W OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.