County profile · official public datasets

Nuckolls County, NE

255 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.3% rated Good, 57.6% Fair, 9% Poor.

255
Public bridges: 33.3%
Good condition: 9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

59th
of 88 on Poor share: 9%
Poor-condition share: 255
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Nuckolls County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nuckolls County ranks #59 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9%). Nuckolls County, Nebraska contains 255 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.3% are rated “Good,” 57.6% “Fair,” and 9% “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

255

Public highway bridges in Nuckolls County

Good condition

33.3%

85 of 255 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.6%

147 of 255 rated 5-6

Poor condition

23 of 255 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 255 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.3% (85)

Fair

57.6% (147)

Poor

9% (23)

Nuckolls County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,720 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 162 crossings a day against 180 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 255 of 255 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.2% of Nuckolls County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 255 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 33.3% 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 43.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N14 over OX BOW CREEK, built 1937, carries 1,625 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,720 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

5
1930s

42
1940s

16
1950s

4
1960s

7
1970s

20
1980s

51
1990s

42
2000s

33
2010s

24
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 51 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Nuckolls County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nuckolls County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Richardson County	258	41.9%	44.6%	13.6%	1966
Nuckolls County (this page)	255	33.3%	57.6%	9%	1979
Colfax County	252	62.7%	35.3%	2%	1990
Wayne County	251	55%	35.5%	9.6%	1978
Scotts Bluff County	250	64%	30.8%	5.2%	1972
Seward County	244	66.4%	25.8%	7.8%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (255 bridges here).

Marion County, AL · 255 bridges
Osceola County, FL · 255 bridges
Marshall County, MS · 255 bridges
Santa Fe County, NM · 255 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 255 Good 85 Fair 147 Poor 23

All bridges (255)

Sort:

Nuckolls County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Nuckolls County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,720 vehicle crossings a day

32.2% of Nuckolls County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Nuckolls 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 (255)

ROAD 4000

ROAD H

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD V

RD 3200

COLL7593/ROAD 3200

ROAD M

FARM LANE

ROAD 2700

ROAD C

N4

N8

N8

N14

ROAD 3800

COUNTY HIGHWAY

RD 4800

FAS 2350

COUNTY HIGHWAY

7TH STREET

ROAD 4800

ROAD R

N8

N14

N8

ROAD R

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 3200

ROAD 4700

ROAD N

RD N

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD J

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 4500

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 3900

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD 3400

ROAD 3400

COUNTY HIGHWAY

4TH ST

ROAD X

ROAD 3700

ROAD 3400

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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