County profile · official public datasets

Sheridan County, NE

63 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 85.7% rated Good, 14.3% Fair, 0% Poor.

63
Public bridges: 85.7%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sheridan County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 5%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 63
public highway bridges: 1965
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.

Sheridan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sheridan County ranks #4 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Sheridan County, Nebraska contains 63 public highway bridges. Roughly 85.7% are rated “Good,” 14.3% “Fair,” and 0% “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

Public highway bridges in Sheridan County

Good condition

85.7%

54 of 63 rated 7-9

Fair condition

14.3%

9 of 63 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 63 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 63 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

85.7% (54)

Fair

14.3% (9)

Poor

0% (0)

57.1% of Sheridan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

36 of the 63 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 85.7% 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.

pre-1900

1
1930s

14
1940s

7
1950s

8
1960s

5
1970s

6
1980s

9
1990s

3
2000s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 14 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 12 years older than the Nebraska average of 1977.

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Sheridan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sheridan County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kearney County	71	63.4%	35.2%	1.4%	1978
Boyd County	64	81.3%	14.1%	4.7%	1987
Sheridan County (this page)	63	85.7%	14.3%	0%	1965
Gosper County	62	67.7%	22.6%	9.7%	1977
Cherry County	57	42.1%	38.6%	19.3%	1959
Brown County	56	42.9%	50%	7.1%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (63 bridges here).

Highlands County, FL · 63 bridges
Chattahoochee County, GA · 63 bridges
Red River County, LA · 63 bridges
Lincoln County, ME · 63 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1965 here).

Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges

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

All 63 Good 54 Fair 9 Poor 0

All bridges (63)

Sort:

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Fair

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

#20/#250 6.6S 7.5E, Sheridan, NE

Built 1888 Load: 5.0 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Fair

Over: NIOBRARA RIVER

#20/S87 12S 6.9E, Sheridan, NE

Built 1981 Load: 7.0 t ADT: 5

470th Lane

Fair

Over: Mirage Flats Canal

11.7 mi SSE of HaySprings, Sheridan, NE

Built 1945 Load: 9.7 t ADT: 5

IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY

Fair

Over: WHITE CLAY CREEK

.5S OF WHITECLAY, Sheridan, NE

Built 1935 Load: 15.0 t ADT: 15

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Fair

Over: MIRAGE FLATS CANAL

#20/S87 11.5S 2W, Sheridan, NE

Built 1935 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 5

N27

Fair

Over: STREAM

IN GORDON, Sheridan, NE

Built 1949 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 1,035

US20/N87

Fair

Over: STREAM

IN HAY SPRINGS, Sheridan, NE

Built 1937 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 2,040

US20/N87

Fair

Over: STREAM

1E HAY SPRINGS, Sheridan, NE

Built 1937 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 2,535

US20

Fair

Over: STREAM

1E GORDON, Sheridan, NE

Sheridan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

57.1% of Sheridan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Sheridan 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

All bridges (63)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

470th Lane

IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N27

US20/N87

US20/N87

US20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

NORTH 3RD STREET

US20/N87

US20/N87

US20/N87

US20/N87

US20/N87

US20

US20

US20

US20

N27

IRR/N27

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N87

N27

COLL 7215

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7215

US20

COLL 7215

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7215

COLL 7215

N87

N87

US20/N87

N87

N87

N87

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