County profile · official public datasets

Richardson County, NE

258 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.9% rated Good, 44.6% Fair, 13.6% Poor.

258
Public bridges: 41.9%
Good condition: 13.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Richardson 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.

75th
of 88 on Poor share: 13.6%
Poor-condition share: 258
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Richardson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Richardson County ranks #75 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.6%). Richardson County, Nebraska contains 258 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.9% are rated “Good,” 44.6% “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.

Total bridges

258

Public highway bridges in Richardson County

Good condition

41.9%

108 of 258 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.6%

115 of 258 rated 5-6

Poor condition

13.6%

35 of 258 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 258 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.9% (108)

Fair

44.6% (115)

Poor

13.6% (35)

Richardson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,346 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% 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 96 crossings a day against 536 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 258 of 258 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.5% of Richardson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

138 of the 258 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 41.9% 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 23.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N8 over N FK BIG NEMAHA RIVER, built 1955, carries 800 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 35-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,346 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

6
1930s

82
1940s

7
1950s

16
1960s

17
1970s

23
1980s

35
1990s

28
2000s

19
2010s

20
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 11 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Richardson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 14 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Richardson County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hall County	271	61.3%	35.1%	3.7%	1980
Richardson County (this page)	258	41.9%	44.6%	13.6%	1966
Nuckolls County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (258 bridges here).

Lauderdale County, TN · 258 bridges
Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 258 Good 108 Fair 115 Poor 35

Good-condition bridges (108)

Sort:

Richardson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Richardson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,346 vehicle crossings a day

53.5% of Richardson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Richardson 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 (108)

N62

US73/US159

US73/US159

US73/US159

US73

US159

US159

637 AV-707/708 RD

642 BL-719R / 719T

US73/US159

US73

709 TR-644/645 BLV

ROAD 702

US75

633 AV-SOUTH 703TR

703TR-633 A/ 634 B

657 AV-703 / 704 R

713 RD-644 / 645 A

646 AV-713 / 714 R

710 RD-654 / 655 A

US75

ROAD 702

ROAD 702

712 RD-654 / 655 A

718 TR-630/631 AV

715 TR-636/637 AV

709 RD-652 / 653 A

FIRST STREET

N62

656 AV-704/ 706 RD

648 AV-710 / 711 R

635 AV-718 / 719 R

N8

US75

ROAD 702

710 RD-646 / 648 A

710 TRAIL

637 AV-714R / 715T

KS SL

705 RD-637 / 639 B

US73

CO RD 240/KS SL

ROAD 702

US159

US73

715 RD-631/632 BLV

714 RD-654 / 655 A

COLL 7905

634 AV-708/709 RD

644 AV-709TR/711RD

Related