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

8%

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.

When Saline County's bridges were built

312 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Knox County 329 3%
Cedar County 313 6.4%
Saline County (this page) 312 8%
Custer County 303 7.9%
Madison County 302 8.3%
Dawson County 300 3.7%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Poor-condition bridges (25)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: TURKEY CREEK

2.2W 1N OF WILBER, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 3.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: TURKEY CREEK

.3S OF DEWITT, Saline, NE

Built 1929 Load: 3.0 t ADT: 25

ROAD H

Poor

Over: DRY BRANCH TRIB

3.1E 4S OF FRIEND, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 3.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: W FK BIG BLUE RIVER

2.5E 2N OF DORCHESTER, Saline, NE

Built 1918 Load: 4.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

2.7W 4S OF FRIEND, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 10

ROAD H

Poor

Over: TURKEY CREEK TRIB

2.4W 4S OF FRIEND, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 10

ROAD K

Poor

Over: TURKEY CREEK

1.5W 9N OF TOBIAS, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 25

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

3.5E .5N OF SWANTON, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 10

FAS 2920

Poor

Over: SWAN CREEK

JCT N15/N74 3S 6.3E, Saline, NE

Built 1961 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 135

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

4E 2.1N OF TOBIAS, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

2.5N 1.5W OF WESTERN, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: PLUMMERS BRANCH

2.7E 2N OF SWANTON, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 6.0 t ADT: 10

340TH AVE

Poor

Over: JOHNSON CREEK

2N .5W OF FRIEND, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

3.4S 4W OF PLEASANTHILL, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 8.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

1.7S 4W OF PLEASANTHILL, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 8.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

2.5N 1.1W OF WESTERN, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

1.5W 2.9S OF WESTERN, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 13.0 t ADT: 10

FAS 2930

Poor

Over: BRUSH CREEK

NJCT N15/N41 1N 6.2E, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 14.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

.1N 1.1E OF WILBER, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 16.0 t ADT: 25

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STREAM

1.5S .2W OF WESTERN, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 30

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SWAN CREEK

1.5E .6N OF SWANTON, Saline, NE

Built 1915 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 10

S76D SWANTON SPUR

Poor

Over: WALNUT GROVE CREEK

2N SWANTON, Saline, NE

Built 1964 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 220

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SQUAW CREEK

2.7S OF CRETE, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 200

N15

Poor

Over: TURKEY CREEK TRIBUTARY

17N WESTERN, Saline, NE

Built 1967 Load: 27.0 t ADT: 1,170

ROAD 1500

Poor

Over: SPRING CREEK

.4S 1W OF PLEASANTHILL, Saline, NE

Built 1935 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 10

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.