Total bridges
177
Public highway bridges in Pierce County
County profile · official public datasets
Pierce County, NE
177 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 13.6% Poor.
- 177
- Public bridges
- 39%
- Good condition
- 13.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Pierce 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.
- 74th
- of 88 on Poor share
- 13.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 177
- public highway bridges
- 1968
- 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.
Pierce County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pierce County ranks #74 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.6%). Pierce County, Nebraska contains 177 public highway bridges. Roughly 39% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 13.6% “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.
Good condition
39%
69 of 177 rated 7-9
Fair condition
47.5%
84 of 177 rated 5-6
Poor condition
13.6%
24 of 177 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#74 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 177 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 39% (69)
Fair 47.5% (84)
Poor 13.6% (24)
Pierce County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,900 vehicle crossings a day
That is 6.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 329 crossings a day against 1,133 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 177 of 177 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
50.8% of Pierce County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
90 of the 177 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 39% 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 53.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US81 over YANKTON SLOUGH TRIB, built 1938, carries 4,245 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 7,900 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Pierce County's bridges were built
177 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 9
1910–1919
9 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
59 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 7
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s 8
1960–1969
8 bridges
- 1970s 17
1970–1979
17 bridges
- 1980s 11
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s 21
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s 17
2000–2009
17 bridges
- 2010s 12
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 13
2020–2029
13 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 9 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
How Pierce County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Pierce County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nemaha County | 179 | 44.1% | 19.6% | 36.3% | 1967 |
| Pierce County (this page) | 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 Pierce 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 Pierce County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (177 bridges here).
- Hale County, AL · 177 bridges
- Macon County, AL · 177 bridges
- Washington County, AL · 177 bridges
- Seminole County, FL · 177 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1968 here).
- Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
- San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
- Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
- Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (24)
COLL 7716
PoorOver: STREAM
NJCT US81/N98 3N 3.2E, Pierce, NE
Built 1910 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 80
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
3N 7E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 15
852 ROAD
PoorOver: N FK ELKHORN RIVER
1S 2E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1910 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 30
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: DRY CREEK
2NW OF FOSTER, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 3.0 t ADT: 50
543 AVE
PoorOver: DRY CREEK
JCT N13/N121 7.3E 5.2S, Pierce, NE
Built 1910 Load: 3.0 t ADT: 25
548TH AVE
PoorOver: DRY CREEK
1.7W 2N OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 40
849 ROAD
PoorOver: N FK ELKHORN RIVER
1.7N OF HADAR, Pierce, NE
Built 1910 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 25
858 ROAD
PoorOver: STREAM
4N 1.2E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1913 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 45
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
3N 7E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 10
865 ROAD
PoorOver: W BR N FK ELKHORN RIVER
1.2W OF OSMOND, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 8.0 t ADT: 100
548 AVE
PoorOver: N FK ELKHORN RIVER
2.5N 2W OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 50
COLL 7714
PoorOver: HADAR CREEK
.2W OF HADAR, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 75
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
5N 7E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 12.0 t ADT: 25
853 ROAD
PoorOver: WILLOW CREEK
10W OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1915 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 30
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
3.7E OF OSMOND, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 14.0 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: N FK ELKHORN RIVER
2.2N OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 14.0 t ADT: 40
US81
PoorOver: YANKTON SLOUGH TRIB
JCT US81/US20 3S, Pierce, NE
Built 1938 Load: 14.0 t ADT: 4,245
541 AVE
PoorOver: WILLOW CREEK
1S 8W OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: DRY CREEK
.5S 1E OF FOSTER, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 5
854TH RD
PoorOver: ELKHORN RIV N FK TRIB
.5N 7.5E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1934 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 165
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
.5N 7.2E OF PIERCE, Pierce, NE
Built 1934 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 165
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: STREAM
4.5S 1W OF PLAINVIEW, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 30
US20
PoorOver: BRESLAU CREEK
4W OSMOND, Pierce, NE
Built 1934 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 2,570
COUNTY HIGHWAY
PoorOver: E BR N FK ELKHORN RIVER
3W .5N OF MCLEAN, Pierce, NE
Built 1935 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 35
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.