County profile · official public datasets

Scotts Bluff County, NE

250 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64% rated Good, 30.8% Fair, 5.2% Poor.

250
Public bridges: 64%
Good condition: 5.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Scotts Bluff County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 47%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.2%
Poor-condition share: 250
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.

Scotts Bluff County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Scotts Bluff County ranks #41 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.2%). Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska contains 250 public highway bridges. Roughly 64% are rated “Good,” 30.8% “Fair,” and 5.2% “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

250

Public highway bridges in Scotts Bluff County

Good condition

64%

160 of 250 rated 7-9

Fair condition

30.8%

77 of 250 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.2%

13 of 250 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 250 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64% (160)

Fair

30.8% (77)

Poor

5.2% (13)

Scotts Bluff County's Poor-condition bridges carry 625 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 48 crossings a day against 1,245 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 250 of 250 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.4% of Scotts Bluff County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 250 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 64% 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 24% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COOK OIL over TRI-STATE CANAL, built 1975, carries 150 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 625 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

6
1930s

44
1940s

4
1950s

6
1960s

37
1970s

35
1980s

53
1990s

23
2000s

33
2010s

8
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 5 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Scotts Bluff County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Scotts Bluff County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Richardson County	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 (this page)	250	64%	30.8%	5.2%	1972
Seward County	244	66.4%	25.8%	7.8%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (250 bridges here).

Escambia County, FL · 250 bridges
Morrow County, OH · 250 bridges
Humphreys County, TN · 250 bridges
Hopkins County, TX · 250 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.

All 250 Good 160 Fair 77 Poor 13

Good-condition bridges (160)

Sort:

Scotts Bluff County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Scotts Bluff County's Poor-condition bridges carry 625 vehicle crossings a day

46.4% of Scotts Bluff County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Scotts Bluff 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 (160)

HIGHLAND ROAD

COUNTY ROAD C

LAKE MINATARE ROAD

FAS 1080 LK MIN RD

LAKE MINATARE ROAD

US26

N71

N71

N71

N92

N92

CITY STREET

CITY STREET

CITY STREET

LIBERTY OIL

COUNTY HIGHWAY

NB-N71

COUNTY ROAD T

COUNTY ROAD T

COUNTY ROAD B

COUNTY ROAD 9

SUGAR FACTORY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD S

FAS 1060 HIGHLAND

CR F- 5B

NB-FAU 5701 BROAD

COUNTY ROAD 20

N71

FAS 1045 HOLLOWAY

COUNTY ROAD D

COUNTY ROAD 22

COUNTY ROAD 22

RAMP OVER N71

COUNTY ROAD 11

SB-N71

NB-N71

ROAD 23

FAS 1055 LOCKWOOD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD P

SUGAR FACTORY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 34

COLL 7118 CR G

COUNTY ROAD J

US26

US26

US26

US26

US26

US26

Related