Total bridges
173
Public highway bridges in Johnson County
County profile · official public datasets
Johnson County, NE
173 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.4% rated Good, 27.2% Fair, 25.4% Poor.
- 173
- Public bridges
- 47.4%
- Good condition
- 25.4%
- Poor condition
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.
- 86th
- of 88 on Poor share
- 25.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 173
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Johnson County Bridge Snapshot
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.
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
Condition distribution
Share of 173 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 47.4% (82)
Fair 27.2% (47)
Poor 25.4% (44)
Johnson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,795 vehicle crossings a day
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.
45.1% of Johnson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
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.
One structure carries 21.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
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.
When Johnson County's bridges were built
173 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
55 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 15
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s 2
1960–1969
2 bridges
- 1970s 8
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
24 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
27 bridges
- 2000s 14
2000–2009
14 bridges
- 2010s 14
2010–2019
14 bridges
- 2020s 9
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.
How Johnson County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
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.
Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Johnson County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (173 bridges here).
- Coweta County, GA · 173 bridges
- Henry County, IA · 173 bridges
- Somerset County, ME · 173 bridges
- Hempstead County, AR · 174 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (173)
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: LONG BRANCH
2.4E 2.3N OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 15
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: SILVER CREEK
1.3S 6W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 30
737 RD
PoorOver: SAUNDERS CREEK
8.5 W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 60
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: BADGER BRANCH
4W 1.75S OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 35
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: DEER CREEK
.5W 3.5N OF VESTA, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 8.0 t ADT: 50
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: BADGER BRANCH
.5S 2.2W OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 8.0 t ADT: 70
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
1.2E OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 45
COLL 7888
PoorOver: STREAM
2S 4.7E OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 40
726 RD
PoorOver: BREWERS BRANCH
.5S 1.5E OF VESTA, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
2.5S 1W OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: LOST BRANCH
1E 3S 1E CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Built 1974 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 10
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: MUDDY CREEK
JCT US136/N50 5E 1N, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 11.0 t ADT: 20
ELM STREET
PoorOver: S FORK LITTLE NEMAHA TRI
COOK ELM @ THIRD, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 12.0 t ADT: 50
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: CORSON BRANCH
.5W 2S OF TECUMSEH, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 10
724 RD
PoorOver: LONG BRANCH
2N 2.2E OF ELK CREEK, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 40
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER
4W 3.5N OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Built 1950 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: TURKEY CREEK
2S 3.7W OF COOK, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: SANDERS CREEK
2.5E 2.5N OF STERLING, Johnson, NE
Built 1940 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 35
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
JCT US136/N50 1N 3.3W, Johnson, NE
Built 1950 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 50
611 AVE
PoorOver: LOST BRANCH
2.5E 2.5S OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 19.0 t ADT: 40
N62
PoorOver: N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER
JCT N50/N62 3E, Johnson, NE
Built 1958 Load: 25.0 t ADT: 380
611 AVE
PoorOver: LOST BRANCH
3E OF CRAB ORCHARD, Johnson, NE
Built 1935 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 35
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: BADGER BRANCH
JCT US136/N50 2S 4.5W, Johnson, NE
Built 2010 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 30
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.