County profile · official public datasets

Valley County, NE

115 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 80.9% rated Good, 19.1% Fair, 0% Poor.

115
Public bridges: 80.9%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Valley County posts a top-1% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 1%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 115
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Valley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Valley County ranks #1 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Valley County, Nebraska contains 115 public highway bridges. Roughly 80.9% are rated “Good,” 19.1% “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

115

Public highway bridges in Valley County

Good condition

80.9%

93 of 115 rated 7-9

Fair condition

19.1%

22 of 115 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 115 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 115 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

80.9% (93)

Fair

19.1% (22)

Poor

0% (0)

33.9% of Valley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 115 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 80.9% 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.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

11
1950s

12
1960s

8
1970s

8
1980s

37
1990s

12
2000s

9
2010s

8
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Valley 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 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Valley County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clay County	134	66.4%	27.6%	6%	1975
Sherman County	118	57.6%	39%	3.4%	1972
Valley County (this page)	115	80.9%	19.1%	0%	1981
Franklin County	104	58.7%	38.5%	2.9%	1977
Frontier County	96	59.4%	20.8%	19.8%	1970
Polk County	94	57.4%	30.9%	11.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (115 bridges here).

Alachua County, FL · 115 bridges
Walton County, GA · 115 bridges
Latah County, ID · 115 bridges
Whitley County, IN · 115 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 115 Good 93 Fair 22 Poor 0

All bridges (115)

Sort:

Valley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

33.9% of Valley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Valley 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 (115)

N11

N22

N70

N70

N70

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7486

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7488

COLL 7477

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N70

N70

FAS 1680

R88B FORT HARTSUFF

805TH RD

24TH STREET

SPRINGDALE ROAD

FAS 2085

FAS 2075

COLL 7483

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FORT AVENUE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7483

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FLUME ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N11

N70

COUNTY RD 470 AVE

HASKELL CREEK AVE

COLL 7490

N70

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