County profile · official public datasets

Saline County, NE

312 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67.3% rated Good, 24.7% Fair, 8% Poor.

312
Public bridges: 67.3%
Good condition: 8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

53rd
of 88 on Poor share: 8%
Poor-condition share: 312
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saline County ranks #53 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8%). Saline County, Nebraska contains 312 public highway bridges. Roughly 67.3% are rated “Good,” 24.7% “Fair,” and 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

312

Public highway bridges in Saline County

Good condition

67.3%

210 of 312 rated 7-9

Fair condition

24.7%

77 of 312 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25 of 312 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#53 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 312 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

67.3% (210)

Fair

24.7% (77)

Poor

8% (25)

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,060 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 82 crossings a day against 331 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 312 of 312 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.7% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

124 of the 312 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 67.3% 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 56.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N15 over TURKEY CREEK TRIBUTARY, built 1967, carries 1,170 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,060 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

6
1930s

56
1940s

10
1950s

11
1960s

32
1970s

9
1980s

25
1990s

36
2000s

50
2010s

42
2020s

32

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 56 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Saline County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Saline County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Knox County	329	60.5%	36.5%	3%	1981
Cedar County	313	47%	46.6%	6.4%	1977
Saline County (this page)	312	67.3%	24.7%	8%	1981
Custer County	303	58.4%	33.7%	7.9%	1971
Madison County	302	36.4%	55.3%	8.3%	1981
Dawson County	300	68%	28.3%	3.7%	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 Saline 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 Saline County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (312 bridges here).

St. Lawrence County, NY · 312 bridges
Beckham County, OK · 312 bridges
Natchitoches County, LA · 313 bridges
Linn County, MO · 313 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 312 Good 210 Fair 77 Poor 25

Good-condition bridges (210)

Sort:

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,060 vehicle crossings a day

39.7% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Saline 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 (210)

RD 900

FAS 2960

FAS 2950

FAS 2920

COLL 7668

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FAS 2960

COLL 7751

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FAS 2950

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ROAD 1500

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FAS 3025

COLL 7668

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COLL 7745

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FAS 2985

FAS 2985

FAS 3027

FAS 3027

FAS 2920

FAS 2920

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COLL 7747

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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