Total bridges
661
Public highway bridges in Lancaster County
County profile · official public datasets
Lancaster County, NE
661 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.3% rated Good, 38.9% Fair, 4.8% Poor.
- 661
- Public bridges
- 56.3%
- Good condition
- 4.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lancaster County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 42%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 4.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 661
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Lancaster County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lancaster County ranks #37 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.8%). Lancaster County, Nebraska contains 661 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.3% are rated “Good,” 38.9% “Fair,” and 4.8% “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
56.3%
372 of 661 rated 7-9
Fair condition
38.9%
257 of 661 rated 5-6
Poor condition
4.8%
32 of 661 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#37 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 661 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 56.3% (372)
Fair 38.9% (257)
Poor 4.8% (32)
Lancaster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 160,220 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,007 crossings a day against 9,043 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 659 of 661 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
31% of Lancaster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
205 of the 661 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 56.3% 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 20.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SB-I180/US34 over I80, built 1960, carries 32,795 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 160,220 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lancaster County's bridges were built
661 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 4
1900–1909
4 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 29
1930–1939
29 bridges
- 1940s 20
1940–1949
20 bridges
- 1950s 26
1950–1959
26 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
93 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
64 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
110 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
113 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
85 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
59 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
51 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 113 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Nebraska average of 1977.
How Lancaster County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Lancaster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster County (this page) | 661 | 56.3% | 38.9% | 4.8% | 1985 |
| Douglas County | 509 | 50.7% | 46.4% | 2.9% | 1985 |
| Saunders County | 506 | 27.7% | 64% | 8.3% | 1972 |
| Buffalo County | 459 | 57.5% | 40.7% | 1.7% | 1989 |
| Platte County | 433 | 34.4% | 60.7% | 4.8% | 1980 |
| Cuming County | 402 | 25.1% | 72.9% | 2% | 1986 |
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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (661 bridges here).
- Jefferson County, KY · 662 bridges
- Bell County, TX · 660 bridges
- St. Louis County, MN · 663 bridges
- Hinds County, MS · 663 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
- Darke County, OH · avg 1985 · 463 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (372)
I180/US34
GoodOver: X STREET
IN LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1996 Load: 52.0 t ADT: 33,410
SB-US77
GoodOver: SALT CREEK
8S SCL LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1996 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 8,720
NB-US77
GoodOver: SALT CREEK
8S SCL LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1996 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 8,720
I180/US34
GoodOver: OAK CREEK
IN LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1963 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 33,410
I180/US34
GoodOver: OAK CREEK
IN LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1963 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 33,410
I180/US34
GoodOver: CHARLESTON ST/FAU 5242
IN LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1996 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 33,410
I180/US34
GoodOver: CHARLESTON ST/FAU 5242
IN LINCOLN, Lancaster, NE
Built 1996 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 33,410
W MCKELVIE RD
GoodOver: OAK CREEK TRIB (F225)
JCT US77/S55-J 4S 1.2E, Lancaster, NE
Built 2018 Load: 54.0 t ADT: 91
WILDERNESHILLSBLVD
GoodOver: SALT CREEK TRIB
0.2 W OF S 40TH ST, Lancaster, NE
Built 2021 Load: 54.0 t
ROCA RD
GoodOver: HICKMAN BR TRIB(S-179)
JCT N2/N43 4S 4.5W, Lancaster, NE
Built 2020 Load: 56.0 t ADT: 839
N79
GoodOver: NORTH OAK CREEK TRIB.
2S AGNEW, Lancaster, NE
Built 2018 Load: 65.0 t ADT: 2,750
CAPITAL PKWY WEST
GoodOver: US77
LINCOLN WEST BYPASS, Lancaster, NE
Built 2007 Load: 66.0 t ADT: 22,760
N2
GoodOver: HICKMAN BRANCH
LINCOLN SOUTH BELTWAY, Lancaster, NE
Built 2022 Load: 71.0 t ADT: 1,610
N 148TH ST
GoodOver: STEVENSCREEKTRIB J143
JCT HWY34/HWY43 5W 0.8N, Lancaster, NE
Built 2018 Load: 73.0 t ADT: 4,500
US77
GoodOver: SALT CREEK TRIBUTARY
LINCOLN SOUTH BELTWAY, Lancaster, NE
Built 2022 Load: 73.0 t ADT: 1,610
N2
GoodOver: SALT CREEK TRIBUTARY
LINCOLN SOUTH BELTWAY, Lancaster, NE
Built 2022 Load: 77.0 t ADT: 1,610
N-79
GoodOver: STREAM
1.5S AND 0.8E AGNEW, Lancaster, NE
Built 2017 Load: 80.0 t ADT: 2,750
HWY 79
GoodOver: OAK CREEK TRIB
1S AGNEW, Lancaster, NE
Built 2018 Load: 92.0 t ADT: 2,860
N2
GoodOver: HICKMAN BRANCH
LINCOLN SOUTH BELTWAY, Lancaster, NE
Built 2022 Load: 93.0 t ADT: 1,610
JAMAICA AVE
GoodOver: SALT CREEK TRIB
JCT 27TH/SALTILLO .2E .4S, Lancaster, NE
Built 2023 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 6,805
84TH STREET
GoodOver: STREAM
JCT 84TH/SALTILLO .2W .2S, Lancaster, NE
Built 2023 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 3,110
82ND STREET
GoodOver: HICKMAN BRANCH TRIB
_, Lancaster, NE
Built 2020 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 139
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.