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.

Total bridges

661

Public highway bridges in Lancaster County

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.

1900s

4
1910s

2
1920s

5
1930s

29
1940s

20
1950s

26
1960s

93
1970s

64
1980s

110
1990s

113
2000s

85
2010s

59
2020s

51

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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lancaster County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
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.

All 661 Good 372 Fair 257 Poor 32

All bridges (661)

Sort:

Lancaster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lancaster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 160,220 vehicle crossings a day

31% of Lancaster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lancaster 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 (661)

W PANAMA RD

ADAMS ST/FAS 5250

2O 126TH ST

US77

SUPRIOR ST/FAU5254

I180/US34

N 48TH ST

PIONEERS BLVD

FLETCHER AVE

MARLENE DRIVE

COTNER BLVD

WALTD RD

N 98TH ST

SW 114TH ST

S 112TH /FAS 3375

OLD CHENEY/FAS3310

I80

WARLICK BLVD

S55G HICKMAN SPUR

N 27TH ST/FAU 5231

NW 140TH ST

S 56TH ST/FAS 3355

BENNET RD

W VAN DORN ST

NEBRASKA PARKWAY

US6

US34

S 70TH ST

SUPERIOR ST

PANAMA RD

OLD CHENEY

EB-N2/N43

PANAMA RD/FAS 3270

HOLDREGE ST

W VAN DORN ST

US6

NW 112TH ST/CL7825

S34B FIRTH SPUR

ROSA PARKS WAY

W CRNHSKER/FAU5248

I80

I80

AIRPARK RD/FAU5203

S 38TH ST

W MATHIS STREET

NB-US77

SB-US77 RAMP

SPRAGUE RD/FAS3280

PELLA RD

BLUFF ROAD

Related