County profile · official public datasets

Nemaha County, NE

179 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.1% rated Good, 19.6% Fair, 36.3% Poor.

179
Public bridges: 44.1%
Good condition: 36.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nemaha County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

88th
of 88 on Poor share: 36.3%
Poor-condition share: 179
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Nemaha County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nemaha County ranks #88 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 36.3%). Nemaha County, Nebraska contains 179 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.1% are rated “Good,” 19.6% “Fair,” and 36.3% “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

179

Public highway bridges in Nemaha County

Good condition

44.1%

79 of 179 rated 7-9

Fair condition

19.6%

35 of 179 rated 5-6

Poor condition

36.3%

65 of 179 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#88 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 179 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.1% (79)

Fair

19.6% (35)

Poor

36.3% (65)

Nemaha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,516 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 36.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 69 crossings a day against 890 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 179 of 179 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.6% of Nemaha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

96 of the 179 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 44.1% 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 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US136 over MISSOURI RIVER, built 1938, carries 2,450 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 65-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,516 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

75
1940s

1
1950s

3
1960s

11
1970s

6
1980s

15
1990s

22
2000s

14
2010s

22
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 75 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 41.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 10 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Nemaha County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 36.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nemaha County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Nemaha County (this page)	179	44.1%	19.6%	36.3%	1967
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	173	65.3%	26%	8.7%	1976
Burt County	169	36.7%	60.4%	3%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (179 bridges here).

Graham County, AZ · 179 bridges
Thomas County, GA · 179 bridges
Carroll County, IL · 179 bridges
Fremont County, IA · 179 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 179 Good 79 Fair 35 Poor 65

Poor-condition bridges (65)

Sort:

Nemaha County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nemaha County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,516 vehicle crossings a day

53.6% of Nemaha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 54.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nemaha 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

Poor-condition bridges (65)

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