County profile · official public datasets

Merrick County, NE

173 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.3% rated Good, 26% Fair, 8.7% Poor.

173
Public bridges: 65.3%
Good condition: 8.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

57th
of 88 on Poor share: 8.7%
Poor-condition share: 173
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Merrick County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Merrick County ranks #57 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.7%). Merrick County, Nebraska contains 173 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.3% are rated “Good,” 26% “Fair,” and 8.7% “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

173

Public highway bridges in Merrick County

Good condition

65.3%

113 of 173 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26%

45 of 173 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.7%

15 of 173 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 173 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.3% (113)

Fair

26% (45)

Poor

8.7% (15)

Merrick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 905 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 60 crossings a day against 551 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 173 of 173 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.5% of Merrick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

70 of the 173 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 65.3% 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 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 2180 over STREAM, built 1949, carries 325 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 905 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1930s

17
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

24
1970s

43
1980s

34
1990s

22
2000s

16
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Merrick County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Merrick County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pierce County	177	39%	47.5%	13.6%	1968
Hamilton County	175	32%	56%	12%	1965
Johnson County	173	47.4%	27.2%	25.4%	1971
Merrick County (this page)	173	65.3%	26%	8.7%	1976
Burt County	169	36.7%	60.4%	3%	1983
Furnas County	169	62.7%	27.8%	9.5%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (173 bridges here).

Coweta County, GA · 173 bridges
Henry County, IA · 173 bridges
Somerset County, ME · 173 bridges
Hempstead County, AR · 174 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 173 Good 113 Fair 45 Poor 15

Good-condition bridges (113)

Sort:

Merrick County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Merrick County's Poor-condition bridges carry 905 vehicle crossings a day

40.5% of Merrick County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Merrick 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

Good-condition bridges (113)

RD 20

COUNTY ROAD J

N92

FAS 2470

FAS 2485

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

13TH RD

COLL 7617

14TH RD

FIELD ENTRANCE

15TH RD

FIELD ENTRANCE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2200

FAS 2200

FAS 2200

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2180

FAS 2180

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2515

FAS 2515

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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