County profile · official public datasets

Seward County, NE

244 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 66.4% rated Good, 25.8% Fair, 7.8% Poor.

244
Public bridges: 66.4%
Good condition: 7.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

51st
of 88 on Poor share: 7.8%
Poor-condition share: 244
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Seward County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Seward County ranks #51 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.8%). Seward County, Nebraska contains 244 public highway bridges. Roughly 66.4% are rated “Good,” 25.8% “Fair,” and 7.8% “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

244

Public highway bridges in Seward County

Good condition

66.4%

162 of 244 rated 7-9

Fair condition

25.8%

63 of 244 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.8%

19 of 244 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#51 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 244 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

66.4% (162)

Fair

25.8% (63)

Poor

7.8% (19)

Seward County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,640 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 244 crossings a day against 1,314 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 244 of 244 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.6% of Seward County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 244 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 66.4% 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 58% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N103 over CHEESE CREEK, built 1981, carries 2,690 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,640 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

18
1940s

3
1950s

3
1960s

43
1970s

16
1980s

69
1990s

52
2000s

25
2010s

7
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 69 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Seward County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Seward County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	251	55%	35.5%	9.6%	1978
Scotts Bluff County	250	64%	30.8%	5.2%	1972
Seward County (this page)	244	66.4%	25.8%	7.8%	1980
Holt County	241	80.1%	18.3%	1.7%	1988
Jefferson County	241	53.5%	24.1%	22.4%	1969
Boone County	237	66.7%	29.5%	3.8%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (244 bridges here).

Spencer County, IN · 244 bridges
Norton County, KS · 244 bridges
Osborne County, KS · 244 bridges
Allegan County, MI · 244 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 244 Good 162 Fair 63 Poor 19

Fair-condition bridges (63)

Sort:

Seward County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Seward County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,640 vehicle crossings a day

33.6% of Seward County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Seward 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

Fair-condition bridges (63)

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COLL 7748

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L80E

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COLL 7754

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N15

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US34

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S80C STAPLEHURST

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COLL 7744

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L80G GOEHNER CNLK

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