Total bridges
152
Public highway bridges in Thurston County
County profile · official public datasets
Thurston County, NE
152 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.7% rated Good, 30.9% Fair, 20.4% Poor.
- 152
- Public bridges
- 48.7%
- Good condition
- 20.4%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Thurston County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 83rd
- of 88 on Poor share
- 20.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 152
- 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.
Thurston County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Thurston County ranks #83 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20.4%). Thurston County, Nebraska contains 152 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.7% are rated “Good,” 30.9% “Fair,” and 20.4% “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
48.7%
74 of 152 rated 7-9
Fair condition
30.9%
47 of 152 rated 5-6
Poor condition
20.4%
31 of 152 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#83 of 88
Among Nebraska counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 152 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 48.7% (74)
Fair 30.9% (47)
Poor 20.4% (31)
Thurston County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,533 vehicle crossings a day
That is 18.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 501 crossings a day against 391 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 152 of 152 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
39.5% of Thurston County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
60 of the 152 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 48.7% 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 42.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
IRR/US77 over STREAM, built 1939, carries 6,565 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 31-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 15,533 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Thurston County's bridges were built
152 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 2
1900–1909
2 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
27 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s 9
1960–1969
9 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s 9
1980–1989
9 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
18 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
20 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
31 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Nebraska average (1977).
How Thurston County compares with Nebraska's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Thurston County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Nebraska counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard County | 161 | 29.2% | 64.6% | 6.2% | 1977 |
| Cheyenne County | 159 | 82.4% | 16.4% | 1.3% | 1973 |
| Thurston County (this page) | 152 | 48.7% | 30.9% | 20.4% | 1980 |
| Washington County | 149 | 76.5% | 20.8% | 2.7% | 1989 |
| Nance County | 148 | 54.1% | 40.5% | 5.4% | 1973 |
| Dixon County | 146 | 34.2% | 56.2% | 9.6% | 1978 |
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 Thurston 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 Thurston County, both outside Nebraska so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NE (152 bridges here).
- Logan County, AR · 152 bridges
- Kosciusko County, IN · 152 bridges
- Muhlenberg County, KY · 152 bridges
- Clinton County, MO · 152 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.
Good-condition bridges (74)
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: BIG SLOUGH CREEK
1.5S OF ROSALIE, Thurston, NE
Built 2002 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 25
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: SOUTH OMAHA CREEK
2S OF WALTHILL, Thurston, NE
Built 1994 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 15
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: STREAM
6W 2N OF WINNEBAGO, Thurston, NE
Built 2002 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 25
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: RATTLESNAKE CREEK
.5N 3.5W OF PENDER, Thurston, NE
Built 1995 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 25
IRR/FAS 3560
GoodOver: MIDDLE CREEK
JCT N9/S-87A 4N 1.4E, Thurston, NE
Built 1977 Load: 37.0 t ADT: 105
IRR BIA RTE 50
GoodOver: NORTH BLACKBIRD CREEK
SOUTH EDGE OF MACY, Thurston, NE
Built 1978 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 108
IRR/FAS 3550
GoodOver: NORTH OMAHA CREEK
JCT US77/N94 2N 1.9W, Thurston, NE
Built 2016 Load: 38.0 t ADT: 95
J AVE
GoodOver: COW CREEK
2.2W OF WALTHILL, Thurston, NE
Built 2016 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 30
IRR BIA RTE 1
GoodOver: FOX CREEK
4.8 KM WEST&SOUTH OF MACY, Thurston, NE
Built 1980 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 215
LOGAN CREEK ROAD
GoodOver: STAGE CREEK
.2S OF PENDER, Thurston, NE
Built 2019 Load: 41.0 t ADT: 55
IRR BIA RTE 2
GoodOver: NORTH BLACKBIRD CREEK
1.7 KM WEST OF MACY, Thurston, NE
Built 1983 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 364
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: SOUTH BLACKBIRD CREEK
4.5S OF MACY, Thurston, NE
Built 2014 Load: 43.0 t ADT: 110
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: MIDDLE CREEK
.5S OF EMERSON, Thurston, NE
Built 2016 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 70
IRR/FAS 3920
GoodOver: BIG SLOUGH CREEK
JCT US77/S-87B 3.6W, Thurston, NE
Built 1993 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 245
K AVE
GoodOver: BIG SLOUGH CREEK
5E 1N OF PENDER, Thurston, NE
Built 2005 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 40
28TH ROAD
GoodOver: SOUTH OMAHA CREEK
JCT US77/S-87B 2W 1.3N, Thurston, NE
Built 2019 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 110
IRR/FAS 3560
GoodOver: STREAM
JCT N9/S-87A 4N 3.4W, Thurston, NE
Built 2016 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 105
IRR/N9
GoodOver: RATTLESNAKE CREEK
1N PENDER, Thurston, NE
Built 1999 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 1,820
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: SOUTH OMAHA CREEK
1.7N OF WINNEBAGO, Thurston, NE
Built 2023 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 85
IRR/US75/US77
GoodOver: OMAHA CREEK TRIBUTARY
3N WINNEBAGO, Thurston, NE
Built 1993 Load: 53.0 t ADT: 8,480
M AVE
GoodOver: BIG SLOUGH CREEK
3N 2.5W OF ROSALIE, Thurston, NE
Built 2020 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 25
IRR/COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: STREAM
2.2N OF THURSTON, Thurston, NE
Built 2009 Load: 58.0 t ADT: 40
IRR/N94
GoodOver: SOUTH OMAHA CREEK
0E WALTHILL, Thurston, NE
Built 1994 Load: 60.0 t ADT: 2,365
IRR BIA RTE 8
GoodOver: UNKNOWN CREEK
5 KM N OF WINNEBAGO, Thurston, NE
Built 2021 Load: 62.1 t ADT: 50
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.