County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, NE

302 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.4% rated Good, 55.3% Fair, 8.3% Poor.

302
Public bridges: 36.4%
Good condition: 8.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Madison County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

55th
of 88 on Poor share: 8.3%
Poor-condition share: 302
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #55 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Madison County, Nebraska contains 302 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.4% are rated “Good,” 55.3% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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

302

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

36.4%

110 of 302 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.3%

167 of 302 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.3%

25 of 302 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#55 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 302 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.4% (110)

Fair

55.3% (167)

Poor

8.3% (25)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,305 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 492 crossings a day against 2,623 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 302 of 302 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.8% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

108 of the 302 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 36.4% 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 66.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

NORFLK AVE/FAU6020 over N FK ELKHORN RIVER, built 1968, carries 8,130 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,305 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

30
1940s

2
1950s

24
1960s

28
1970s

46
1980s

41
1990s

39
2000s

61
2010s

19
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 61 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Knox County	329	60.5%	36.5%	3%	1981
Cedar County	313	47%	46.6%	6.4%	1977
Saline County	312	67.3%	24.7%	8%	1981
Custer County	303	58.4%	33.7%	7.9%	1971
Madison County (this page)	302	36.4%	55.3%	8.3%	1981
Dawson County	300	68%	28.3%	3.7%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (302 bridges here).

Ford County, IL · 302 bridges
Chickasaw County, IA · 302 bridges
Pottawatomie County, KS · 303 bridges
Callaway County, MO · 303 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 302 Good 110 Fair 167 Poor 25

All bridges (302)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,305 vehicle crossings a day

35.8% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 66.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (302)

FAS 2798

535TH AVE

HALF MILE RD

539TH AVE

539TH AVE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

546TH RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2907

MAIN ST/FAS 2907

N32

N32

US81

US81

ELKHORN WAYSIDE

US81

MONROE AVE

NORFLK AVE/FAU6020

PHILLIP AVENUE

PARK AVENUE

11TH ST

PASEWLK AV/FAU6004

CENTER DRIVE

14TH STREET

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2875

COLL 7697

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US275

COUNTY HIGHWAY

838TH RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

840TH RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

NUCOR RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US81

544TH AVE

COLL 7698

COUNTY HIGHWAY

827TH RD

FAS 2895

829TH RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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