County profile · official public datasets

Pawnee County, NE

191 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.7% rated Good, 27.7% Fair, 34.6% Poor.

191
Public bridges: 37.7%
Good condition: 34.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pawnee 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.

87th
of 88 on Poor share: 34.6%
Poor-condition share: 191
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.

Pawnee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pawnee County ranks #87 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 34.6%). Pawnee County, Nebraska contains 191 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.7% are rated “Good,” 27.7% “Fair,” and 34.6% “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

191

Public highway bridges in Pawnee County

Good condition

37.7%

72 of 191 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.7%

53 of 191 rated 5-6

Poor condition

34.6%

66 of 191 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#87 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 191 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37.7% (72)

Fair

27.7% (53)

Poor

34.6% (66)

Pawnee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,550 vehicle crossings a day

That is 19.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 34.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 54 crossings a day against 145 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 191 of 191 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.9% of Pawnee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

103 of the 191 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 37.7% 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 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N4 over N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER, built 1950, carries 1,385 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 66-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,550 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

87
1940s

3
1950s

2
1960s

3
1970s

8
1980s

14
1990s

15
2000s

21
2010s

22
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 87 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 45.5% 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 Pawnee County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Pawnee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 34.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pawnee County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
York County	205	57.6%	39.5%	2.9%	1974
Lincoln County	197	65%	28.4%	6.6%	1976
Sarpy County	192	38.5%	52.1%	9.4%	1980
Webster County	191	63.9%	26.7%	9.4%	1978
Pawnee County (this page)	191	37.7%	27.7%	34.6%	1967
Nemaha County	179	44.1%	19.6%	36.3%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (191 bridges here).

Jay County, IN · 191 bridges
Ripley County, IN · 191 bridges
Atchison County, MO · 191 bridges
Milam County, TX · 191 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 191 Good 72 Fair 53 Poor 66

Good-condition bridges (72)

Sort:

Pawnee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pawnee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,550 vehicle crossings a day

53.9% of Pawnee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 39% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pawnee 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 (72)

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N4

N50

N99

N99

N50

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COLL 7893

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N4

ROAD 702

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N8/N50

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FAS 3595 / 609 AVE

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623 AVE

703 ROAD

720 RD

610 AVE

714 RD

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704 RD

623 AVE

626 AVE

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710 TR

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N8

FAS 3635

N65

COUNTY HIGHWAY

RD 711

N65

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