County profile · official public datasets

Kearney County, NE

71 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63.4% rated Good, 35.2% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

71
Public bridges: 63.4%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kearney County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 17%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 71
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Kearney County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kearney County ranks #15 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Kearney County, Nebraska contains 71 public highway bridges. Roughly 63.4% are rated “Good,” 35.2% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

Public highway bridges in Kearney County

Good condition

63.4%

45 of 71 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35.2%

25 of 71 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

1 of 71 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#15 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 71 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63.4% (45)

Fair

35.2% (25)

Poor

1.4% (1)

Kearney County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 15 crossings a day against 635 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 71 of 71 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.7% of Kearney County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 71 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 63.4% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

33 1600 CNTY RD over DRY CREEK, built 1966, carries 15 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 15 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

5
1940s

1
1950s

2
1960s

19
1970s

14
1980s

5
1990s

13
2000s

5
2010s

6
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Kearney County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kearney County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hitchcock County	77	77.9%	18.2%	3.9%	1969
Dakota County	73	50.7%	39.7%	9.6%	1975
Deuel County	73	80.8%	17.8%	1.4%	1979
Kearney County (this page)	71	63.4%	35.2%	1.4%	1978
Boyd County	64	81.3%	14.1%	4.7%	1987
Sheridan County	63	85.7%	14.3%	0%	1965

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (71 bridges here).

Rio Grande County, CO · 71 bridges
Charlton County, GA · 71 bridges
Madison County, GA · 71 bridges
Taylor County, GA · 71 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 71 Good 45 Fair 25 Poor 1

All bridges (71)

Sort:

Kearney County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kearney County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15 vehicle crossings a day

50.7% of Kearney County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kearney 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 (71)

29 100 CNTY RD

28 100 COLLECTOR

41 1700 CNTY RD

FAS 1540 Q 1200

29 1500 COLLECTOR

31 1500 CNTY RD

37 900 COLLECTOR

FAS 1540 R 300

21 1700 CNTY RD

FAS 1540 R 500

FAS 1985 35 1300

R-50B 30 2100

20 400 CNTY RD

US6/US34

30 1500 CNTY RD

FAS 1975 40 1100

43 1000 CNTY RD

24 1200 CNTY RD

44TH RD

FAS 1550 W 400

FAS 1975 40 500

V 400 CNTY RD

R 1500 CNTY RD

28 1500 CNTY RD

36 1200 CNTY RD

20 900 CNTY RD

21 1500 CNTY RD

X 2300 CNTY RD

FAS 1955 26 100

27 100 CNTY RD

R 1400 CNTY RD

O 500 CNTY RD

M 1600 CNTY RD

34 1000 CNTY RD

34 1000 CNTY RD

FAS 1985

J 1700 CNTY RD

36 1200 CNTY RD

36 1800 COLLECTOR

37 400 COLLECTOR

38 400 CNTY RD

39 400 CNTY RD

39 1600 CNTY RD

E 2000 CNTY RD

41 1200 CNTY RD

C 1400 CNTY RD

FAS 1760 B 200

FAS 1760 B 600

FAS 1850 W 2300

O 1400 CNTY RD

Related