Total bridges
506
Public highway bridges in Saunders County
County profile · official public datasets
Saunders County, NE
506 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.7% rated Good, 64% Fair, 8.3% Poor.
- 506
- Public bridges
- 27.7%
- Good condition
- 8.3%
- Poor condition
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.
- 56th
- of 88 on Poor share
- 8.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 506
- public highway bridges
- 1972
- 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.
Saunders County Bridge Snapshot
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.
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
Condition distribution
Share of 506 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 27.7% (140)
Fair 64% (324)
Poor 8.3% (42)
Saunders County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,895 vehicle crossings a day
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.
52.2% of Saunders County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
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.
One structure carries 14.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
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.
When Saunders County's bridges were built
506 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 6
1910–1919
6 bridges
- 1920s 9
1920–1929
9 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
102 bridges
- 1940s 17
1940–1949
17 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
64 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
42 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
53 bridges
- 1980s 40
1980–1989
40 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
43 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
51 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
52 bridges
- 2020s 27
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.
How Saunders County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
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.
Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Saunders County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (506 bridges here).
- Linn County, IA · 506 bridges
- Essex County, NJ · 505 bridges
- Monmouth County, NJ · 505 bridges
- Oakland County, MI · 508 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1972 here).
- Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
- Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
- Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
- York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (324)
COUNTY ROAD F
FairOver: STREAM
1.3S 2.2E OF ITHACA, Saunders, NE
Built 2015 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 60
COUNTY ROAD 29
FairOver: TRIB N FORK WAHOO CRK
3.6S 2W OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Built 1935 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 25
CHESTNUT ST
FairOver: WAHOO CREEK
SJCT US77/N92 .3S, Saunders, NE
Built 1983 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 5,560
S78E MALMO SPUR
FairOver: COTTONWOOD CREEK
JCT N92/S78E 3.9N, Saunders, NE
Built 1991 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 620
COLL 7762
FairOver: STREAM
.5N 1.7W OF LESHARA, Saunders, NE
Built 1935 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 37
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: WAHOO CREEK
1W 1.4N OF ASHLAND, Saunders, NE
Built 2001 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 10
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: WAHOO CREEK
.5W 1N OF ASHLAND, Saunders, NE
Built 1991 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 50
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: STREAM
2W 2.8N OF MEAD, Saunders, NE
Built 1991 Load: 42.0 t ADT: 35
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: STREAM
1.5N .5E OF PRAGUE, Saunders, NE
Built 2006 Load: 42.0 t ADT: 35
TOWNSHIP RD
FairOver: STREAM
3.2S 1E OF MORSE BLUFF, Saunders, NE
Built 2005 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 50
US6
FairOver: PLATTE RIVER
2NE ASHLAND, Saunders, NE
Built 1984 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 4,920
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: STREAM
2S OF SWEDEBURG, Saunders, NE
Built 2002 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 40
MEMPHIS ROAD
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
JCT N63/S-78C .5W .2S, Saunders, NE
Built 1910 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 105
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: STREAM
1N .5W MEAD, Saunders, NE
Built 1990 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 35
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: STREAM
1.5E 2N WESTON, Saunders, NE
Built 2004 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 75
FAS 3400
FairOver: STREAM
3E 3S WESTON, Saunders, NE
Built 2004 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 50
COLL 7851
FairOver: DUCK CREEK
2.5W OF COLON, Saunders, NE
Built 1935 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 40
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: OTOE CREEK TRIBUTARY
2S 4E CEDAR BLUFFS, Saunders, NE
Built 2009 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 45
FAS 3425
FairOver: STREAM
SJCT US6/N63 3W 3.2N, Saunders, NE
Built 2003 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 105
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: STREAM
7W WESTON, Saunders, NE
Built 2002 Load: 50.0 t ADT: 40
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: STREAM
.5S 1.8W OF MORSE BLUFF, Saunders, NE
Built 2003 Load: 50.0 t ADT: 60
TOWNSHIP ROAD
FairOver: SAND CREEK
.5SE OF WAHOO, Saunders, NE
Built 1984 Load: 50.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CLEAR CREEK
1N OF ASHLAND, Saunders, NE
Built 1950 Load: 52.0 t ADT: 115
N66
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
2SE ITHACA, Saunders, NE
Built 1998 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 1,360
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.