Total bridges
506
Public highway bridges in Saunders County
County profile · official public datasets
506 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.7% rated Good, 64% Fair, 8.3% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Saunders 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.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saunders County ranks #56 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.3%). Saunders County, Nebraska contains 506 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.7% are rated “Good,” 64% “Fair,” and 8.3% “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
506
Public highway bridges in Saunders County
Good condition
27.7%
140 of 506 rated 7-9
Fair condition
64%
324 of 506 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.3%
42 of 506 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#56 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 506 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 45 crossings a day against 1,134 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 506 of 506 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
264 of the 506 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 27.7% 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.
COLL 7841 over STREAM, built 1965, carries 280 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 42-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,895 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
506 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1910–1919
6 bridges
1920–1929
9 bridges
1930–1939
102 bridges
1940–1949
17 bridges
1950–1959
64 bridges
1960–1969
42 bridges
1970–1979
53 bridges
1980–1989
40 bridges
1990–1999
43 bridges
2000–2009
51 bridges
2010–2019
52 bridges
2020–2029
27 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 102 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 5 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Saunders County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas County | 509 | 50.7% | 46.4% | 2.9% | 1985 |
| Saunders County (this page) | 506 | 27.7% | 64% | 8.3% | 1972 |
| Buffalo County | 459 | 57.5% | 40.7% | 1.7% | 1989 |
| Platte County | 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 |
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 Saunders County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Saunders County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside NE (506 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1972 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: UPPER CLEAR CREEK
2.2S 1.5E OF YUTAN, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
.5N 2.1W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
3.5W OF CERESCO, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
3W 1.2N PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
1N 1E OF VALPARAISO, Saunders, NE
Over: SILVER CREEK
3S 1.25E OF CEDAR BLUFF, Saunders, NE
Over: NORTH FORK ROCK CREEK
1E 2.6N OF CERESCO, Saunders, NE
Over: NORTH FORK ROCK CREEK
3E .9N OF CERESCO, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
6W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: COTTONWOOD CREEK
1N 3W OF MALMO, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
.6S 1E OF WAHOO, Saunders, NE
Over: HOBSONS BRANCH
CERESCO ELM @ US77, Saunders, NE
Over: WAGON TONGUE CREEK
1.1S 3W OF VALPARAISO, Saunders, NE
Over: DUNLAP CREEK
3.5W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: SPRING CREEK
3N 5.2E OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: MILLER BRANCH
JCT N66/N79 5.1N 7E, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
.5E OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
1S 1E OF ITHACA, Saunders, NE
Over: MOSQUITO CREEK
JCT US77/N63 6.2E 4.6S, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
1N 6.5W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: DUNLAP CREEK
2.5W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: TRIB. N. FORK WAHOO CRK.
2N 1.5W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: DUCK CREEK
1.4S 1W OF COLON, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
1.7S 1.4W OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: JOHNSON CREEK
.9N 1.7W OF WANN, Saunders, NE
Over: SILVER CREEK
2.5N 1.7E OF COLON, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
JCT N92/S-78E 4N 1.1E, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
NJCT US77/N92 4E .8N, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
0N VALPARAISO, Saunders, NE
Over: OTOE CREEK
3S 4.25E OF CEDAR BLUFF, Saunders, NE
Over: DUCK CREEK
.5N 4W OF COLON, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
1.4W 1S OF WESTON, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
JCT US77/N63 6.2E 1.1S, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
4.1S 3W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: UPPER CLEAR CREEK
3.5S OF LESHARA, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
.2N 2W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
JCT N92/S-78E 4N .4E, Saunders, NE
Over: JOHNSON CREEK
JCT US77/N63 12E, Saunders, NE
Over: CLEAR CREEK
1.5S 1.5W OF WANN, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
.5SW OF WAHOO, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
SJCT US77/N92 11.5E .8N, Saunders, NE
Over: SAND CREEK
3N 3W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Over: UPPER CLEAR CREEK
1.5S 1E OF YUTAN, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
6N N92 BUTLER CL, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
1.3N 1W OF MALMO, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
1N .5E OF MEAD, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
2.2W OF YUTAN, Saunders, NE
Over: WAHOO CREEK
3.5W .5N OF CERESCO, Saunders, NE
Over: DUCK CREEK
JCT N92/S-78E 1E 7.5N, Saunders, NE
Over: STREAM
4S 2W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.