Total bridges
17
Public highway bridges in Golden Valley County
County profile · official public datasets
Golden Valley County, MT
17 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.2% rated Good, 58.8% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 17
- Public bridges
- 41.2%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Golden Valley 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
- 17
- public highway bridges
- 1969
- 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.
Golden Valley County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Golden Valley County ranks #3 of 56 Montana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Golden Valley County, Montana contains 17 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.2% are rated “Good,” 58.8% “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.
Good condition
41.2%
7 of 17 rated 7-9
Fair condition
58.8%
10 of 17 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 17 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#3 of 56
Among Montana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 17 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.2% (7)
Fair 58.8% (10)
Poor 0% (0)
52.9% of Golden Valley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
9 of the 17 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 41.2% 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.
When Golden Valley County's bridges were built
17 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
3 bridges
- 1970s 1
1970–1979
1 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
2 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 3 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 8 years older than the Montana average of 1977.
How Golden Valley County compares with Montana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Montana counties nearest Golden Valley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 55 Montana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield County | 26 | 38.5% | 57.7% | 3.8% | 1989 |
| Petroleum County | 26 | 30.8% | 53.8% | 15.4% | 1967 |
| Wibaux County | 25 | 12% | 84% | 4% | 1975 |
| Powder River County | 23 | 52.2% | 47.8% | 0% | 1988 |
| Golden Valley County (this page) | 17 | 41.2% | 58.8% | 0% | 1969 |
| Liberty County | 11 | 36.4% | 45.5% | 18.2% | 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 Golden 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 Golden Valley County, both outside Montana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MT (17 bridges here).
- Lake County, CO · 17 bridges
- Morton County, KS · 17 bridges
- Big Stone County, MN · 17 bridges
- Hormigueros County, PR · 17 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MT (1969 here).
- Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
- Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
- Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
- Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (17)
S SHAWMUT RD
FairOver: FISH CREEK 002
12M W SHAWMUT, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1964 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 100
BUFFALO TRAIL
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 003
2M E RYEGATE, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1915 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 100
BELMONT RD
FairOver: BIG COULEE CREEK 010
2M S LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1975 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 10
S 300
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER
RYEGATE, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1962 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 171
US 12
FairOver: DRAINAGE
2M E LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1935 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 459
US 12
FairOver: TWIN COULEE
1M E LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1935 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 459
US 12
FairOver: TWIN COULEE
1M E LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1935 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 459
US 12
FairOver: NINE MILE CREEK
7M W LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1990 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,905
S 3
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER
LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1959 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,052
S BARBER RD
FairOver: FISH CREEK 022
5M S BARBER, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1983 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 49
S 3
GoodOver: BIG COULEE CREEK
1M S LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1959 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 2,052
ROTHIEMAY RD
GoodOver: CARELESS CREEK
5M N RYEGATE, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1967 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 55
US 12
GoodOver: CARELESS CREEK
3M NE RYEGATE, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1988 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 1,905
S 3
GoodOver: PAINTED ROBE CREEK
6M S LAVINA, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1993 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 1,847
S BARBER RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 023
BARBER-S BARBER RD, Golden Valley, MT
Built 1983 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 49
CUSHMAN RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 015
1M NE CUSHMAN, Golden Valley, MT
Built 2012 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 24
S 300
GoodOver: FISH CREEK
1M S RYEGATE, Golden Valley, MT
Built 2014 Load: 39.0 t ADT: 171
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.