County profile · official public datasets

Webster County, NE

191 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63.9% rated Good, 26.7% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

191
Public bridges: 63.9%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

62nd
of 88 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 191
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Webster County ranks #62 of 88 Nebraska counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Webster County, Nebraska contains 191 public highway bridges. Roughly 63.9% are rated “Good,” 26.7% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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.

Total bridges

191

Public highway bridges in Webster County

Good condition

63.9%

122 of 191 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.7%

51 of 191 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

18 of 191 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#62 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 191 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63.9% (122)

Fair

26.7% (51)

Poor

9.4% (18)

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 450 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 25 crossings a day against 265 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 191 of 191 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.8% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 191 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 63.9% 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.

One structure carries 12.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RIVER RD over WALNUT CREEK, built 1935, carries 55 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 450 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

1
1930s

50
1940s

6
1950s

16
1960s

2
1970s

8
1980s

21
1990s

17
2000s

14
2010s

38
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Nebraska average (1977).

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

The 5 Nebraska counties nearest Webster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Webster County and the 5 Nebraska counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
York County	205	57.6%	39.5%	2.9%	1974
Lincoln County	197	65%	28.4%	6.6%	1976
Sarpy County	192	38.5%	52.1%	9.4%	1980
Pawnee County	191	37.7%	27.7%	34.6%	1967
Webster County (this page)	191	63.9%	26.7%	9.4%	1978
Nemaha County	179	44.1%	19.6%	36.3%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NE (191 bridges here).

Jay County, IN · 191 bridges
Ripley County, IN · 191 bridges
Atchison County, MO · 191 bridges
Milam County, TX · 191 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NE (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 191 Good 122 Fair 51 Poor 18

All bridges (191)

Sort:

COLL 7525

Fair

Over: STREAM

3.5W 3.7N OF RED CLOUD, Webster, NE

Webster County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Webster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 450 vehicle crossings a day

40.8% of Webster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Webster 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 (191)

COLL 7525

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7529

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7531

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 2155

COLL 7525

FAS 2155

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COLL 7544

FAS 2158

COLL 7542

N4

N4

N4

N4

N4

N4

N4

US136

US136

US136

US136

US136

US136

US136

US136

US136

US281

US281

US281

US281

COUNTY HIGHWAY

N78

US136

US136

ROAD 700

N78

N78

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ROAD R

COUNTY HIGHWAY

FAS 1990-RIVER RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

C RD

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