County profile · official public datasets

Keya Paha County, NE

23 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.5% rated Good, 43.5% Fair, 13% Poor.

23
Public bridges: 43.5%
Good condition: 13%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Keya Paha 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.

73rd
of 88 on Poor share: 13%
Poor-condition share: 23
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.

Keya Paha County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Keya Paha County ranks #73 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13%). Keya Paha County, Nebraska contains 23 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.5% are rated “Good,” 43.5% “Fair,” and 13% “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 Keya Paha County

Good condition

43.5%

10 of 23 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.5%

10 of 23 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13%

3 of 23 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#73 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 23 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.5% (10)

Fair

43.5% (10)

Poor

13% (3)

Keya Paha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 55 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 18 crossings a day against 319 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 23 of 23 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60.9% of Keya Paha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

14 of the 23 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 43.5% 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 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY HIGHWAY over SKINNER CREEK, built 1953, carries 25 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 55 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

6
1960s

1
1970s

2
1980s

2
2000s

3
2010s

1
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 6 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 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 6 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Keya Paha County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Keya Paha County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Garden County	29	79.3%	20.7%	0%	1964
Garfield County	24	58.3%	37.5%	4.2%	1978
Keya Paha County (this page)	23	43.5%	43.5%	13%	1971
Loup County	20	50%	35%	15%	1977
Blaine County	19	57.9%	31.6%	10.5%	1990
Thomas County	19	57.9%	42.1%	0%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (23 bridges here).

Franklin County, ID · 23 bridges
Oneida County, ID · 23 bridges
Powder River County, MT · 23 bridges
Nelson County, ND · 23 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

Poor

Over: WENTWORTH CREEK

6S 6.5E OF SPRINGVIEW, Keya Paha, NE

Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 15

COLL 7443

Poor

Over: RICKMAN CREEK

6S 4.5E OF SPRINGVIEW, Keya Paha, NE

Built 1953 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 15

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Browse all → | Rankings →

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Compiled by PlainBridges, Independent data publisher

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.

Keya Paha County, NE

Keya Paha County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Keya Paha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 55 vehicle crossings a day

60.9% of Keya Paha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

When Keya Paha County's bridges were built

How Keya Paha 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 (23)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

HAUGEN CREEK RD

COLL 7443

FAS 1915

N12

COLL 7443

N12

COUNTY HIGHWAY

MEADVILLE ROAD

N12

447TH AVE

US183

US183

N7

N12

FAS 1915

US183/N12

TURKEY CREEK AVE

RIVERVIEW RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7443

COLL 7443

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