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.

When Merrick County's bridges were built

173 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Pierce County 177 13.6%
Hamilton County 175 12%
Johnson County 173 25.4%
Merrick County (this page) 173 8.7%
Burt County 169 3%
Furnas County 169 9.5%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

All bridges (173)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1N 1E ARCHER, Merrick, NE

Built 1992 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 40

N14

Good

Over: PLATTE RIVER

3S CENTRAL CITY, Merrick, NE

Built 1991 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 3,200

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

2.3E 3.9N CLARKS, Merrick, NE

Built 1987 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 45

N92

Good

Over: US30/UPRR 817-569-D

US30/N92 INTRCHG, Merrick, NE

Built 2002 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 565

P ROAD

Good

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1S .8W ARCHER, Merrick, NE

Built 2018 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 25

8TH RD

Good

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1W 1.2S ARCHER, Merrick, NE

Built 2018 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY ROAD 12

Good

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

3.5W 7N CENTRAL CITY, Merrick, NE

Built 1962 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 15

US30

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

0W SILVER CREEK, Merrick, NE

Built 2020 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 3,685

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

5.7N 5.4W CENTRAL CITY, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 40

L RD

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

4.3N 2.4W CHAPMAN, Merrick, NE

Built 1912 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 40

TOWNSHIP ROAD 32

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

1.5NW OF SILVER CREEK, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 2.0 t ADT: 15

COUNTY ROAD 5

Poor

Over: WOOD RIVER

2W 3.6S CHAPMAN, Merrick, NE

Built 1952 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY ROAD 18

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

1.5S 6W OF CLARKS, Merrick, NE

Built 1971 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY ROAD DD

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

2.6E 2.3N SILVER CREEK, Merrick, NE

Built 1941 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 15

COUNTY ROAD 30

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

3.3W 1.5S SILVER CREEK, Merrick, NE

Built 1954 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY ROAD 1

Poor

Over: ROCK CREEK

6S N22 HOWARD CL, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY ROAD 26

Poor

Over: TRIB. TO SILVER CREEK

2.2N 1E OF CLARKS, Merrick, NE

Built 1968 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 45

COUNTY ROAD V

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

1N 2.2W CLARKS, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 35

COUNTY ROAD T

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

5.7N 2.8E CENTRAL CITY, Merrick, NE

Built 1971 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 50

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

2.5E 10.5N CENTRAL CITY, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 15

FAS 2180

Poor

Over: STREAM

JCT US30/N14 11.8W 6.8S, Merrick, NE

Built 1949 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 325

COLL 7627

Poor

Over: SILVER CREEK

1.5N OF HAVENS, Merrick, NE

Built 1935 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 30

FAS 2200

Poor

Over: PRAIRIE CREEK

JCT US30/N14 .1S 10W, Merrick, NE

Built 1936 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 195

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

Related

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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.