County profile · official public datasets

Platte County, NE

433 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.4% rated Good, 60.7% Fair, 4.8% Poor.

433
Public bridges: 34.4%
Good condition: 4.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.8%
Poor-condition share: 433
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Platte County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Platte County ranks #38 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.8%). Platte County, Nebraska contains 433 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.4% are rated “Good,” 60.7% “Fair,” and 4.8% “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

433

Public highway bridges in Platte County

Good condition

34.4%

149 of 433 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.7%

263 of 433 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.8%

21 of 433 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 433 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.4% (149)

Fair

60.7% (263)

Poor

4.8% (21)

Platte County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,335 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,111 crossings a day against 1,425 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 433 of 433 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.1% of Platte County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

152 of the 433 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 34.4% 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 61.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WB-US30/US81 over LOUP RIVER, built 1931, carries 14,395 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 23,335 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

58
1940s

3
1950s

14
1960s

43
1970s

69
1980s

80
1990s

71
2000s

52
2010s

30
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 80 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Platte County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.8% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Platte County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Saunders County	506	27.7%	64%	8.3%	1972
Buffalo County	459	57.5%	40.7%	1.7%	1989
Platte County (this page)	433	34.4%	60.7%	4.8%	1980
Cuming County	402	25.1%	72.9%	2%	1986
Gage County	394	36.5%	55.3%	8.1%	1971
Otoe County	359	43.5%	34.3%	22.3%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (433 bridges here).

Stoddard County, MO · 434 bridges
Plymouth County, IA · 432 bridges
Pinellas County, FL · 435 bridges
Clay County, MO · 436 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 433 Good 149 Fair 263 Poor 21

Fair-condition bridges (263)

Sort:

Platte County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Platte County's Poor-condition bridges carry 23,335 vehicle crossings a day

35.1% of Platte County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 61.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Platte 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

Fair-condition bridges (263)

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N22

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7694

LOST CREEK PARKWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2780

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7626

FAS 2865

OLD MONASTERY ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 2780

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

SB US81

NB US81

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

TOWNSHIP ROAD

FAS 2815

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

3RD STREET

FAS 2770

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COLL 7697

TOWNSHIP ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD

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