County profile · official public datasets

Hill County, MT

46 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.7% rated Good, 34.8% Fair, 6.5% Poor.

46
Public bridges: 58.7%
Good condition: 6.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hill County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

33rd
of 56 on Poor share: 6.5%
Poor-condition share: 46
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Hill County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hill County ranks #33 of 56 Montana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.5%). Hill County, Montana contains 46 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.7% are rated “Good,” 34.8% “Fair,” and 6.5% “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 Hill County

Good condition

58.7%

27 of 46 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.8%

16 of 46 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.5%

3 of 46 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#33 of 56

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

Condition distribution

Share of 46 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.7% (27)

Fair

34.8% (16)

Poor

6.5% (3)

Hill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 300 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 100 crossings a day against 847 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 46 of 46 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.1% of Hill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 46 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 58.7% 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 33.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IRR ROUTE 46 over BIG SANDY CREEK, built 1963, carries 100 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 300 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1950s

3
1960s

9
1970s

6
1980s

4
1990s

4
2000s

12
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 12 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1983, 6 years newer than the Montana average of 1977.

How Hill County compares with Montana's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Montana counties nearest Hill County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 55 Montana counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hill County and the 5 Montana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Judith Basin County	48	56.3%	31.3%	12.5%	1979
Prairie County	46	13%	80.4%	6.5%	1962
Hill County (this page)	46	58.7%	34.8%	6.5%	1983
McCone County	44	11.4%	79.5%	9.1%	1967
Chouteau County	42	54.8%	38.1%	7.1%	1981
Carter County	41	31.7%	63.4%	4.9%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MT (46 bridges here).

Butts County, GA · 46 bridges
Marion County, GA · 46 bridges
Towns County, GA · 46 bridges
Russell County, KY · 46 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MT (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 46 Good 27 Fair 16 Poor 3

All bridges (46)

Sort:

ROAD 160 NORTH

Fair

Over: MILK RIVER 037

30M NW HAVRE, Hill, MT

Built 1938 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 100

ROAD 100 N

Fair

Over: SAGE CREEK 022

10M N HINGHAM, Hill, MT

Built 1977 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 81

WILLOW CREEK RD

Fair

Over: RED ROCK COULEE 009

12M N HAVRE, Hill, MT

Built 1969 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 100

US 87

Fair

Over: GRAVEL COULEE

9M NE BOX ELDER, Hill, MT

Built 1954 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 1,816

CLEAR CREEK RD SE

Fair

Over: LITTLE BOX ELDER CR 033

11M SE HAVRE, Hill, MT

Built 1974 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 139

ROAD 15 N

Fair

Over: SAGE CREEK 035

24M N JOPLIN, Hill, MT

Built 1976 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 100

7TH AVE N

Fair

Over: RR

HAVRE-7TH AVE N, Hill, MT

Built 1936 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 3,384

ROAD 100 S

Fair

Over: BIG SANDY CREEK 019

10M N BOX ELDER, Hill, MT

Built 1963 Load: 24.4 t ADT: 29

IRR BIA RTE 133

Fair

Over: BOX ELDER CREEK

.2 S RTE 24 1.6 SE SANGRY, Hill, MT

Built 1984 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 60

FRESNO RES RD

Fair

Over: FRESNO RES SPILLWAY 038

12M NW HAVRE, Hill, MT

Built 1937 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 231

IRR - S 448

Fair

Over: BIG SANDY CREEK

2M W BOX ELDER, Hill, MT

Built 1961 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 95

IRR BIA RTE 2

Fair

Over: BOX ELDER CREEK

1.3 KM N ROCKY BOYS AGCY, Hill, MT

Built 1992 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,400

S 449

Fair

Over: SAGE CREEK

GILDFORD, Hill, MT

Built 1968 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 258

IRR BIA RTE 006

Fair

Over: BOX ELDER CREEK

2 KM SE OF BOX ELDER, Hill, MT

Built 2000 Load: 33.3 t ADT: 1,000

US 2

Fair

Over: RR

3M W HAVRE, Hill, MT

Built 1960 Load: 38.1 t ADT: 3,466

COUNTY RD 332

Fair

Over: LODGE CREEK 038

26M N HAVRE, Hill, MT

Hill County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hill County's Poor-condition bridges carry 300 vehicle crossings a day

39.1% of Hill County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 33.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hill County compares with Montana'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 (46)

ROAD 160 NORTH

ROAD 100 N

WILLOW CREEK RD

US 87

CLEAR CREEK RD SE

ROAD 15 N

7TH AVE N

ROAD 100 S

IRR BIA RTE 133

FRESNO RES RD

IRR - S 448

IRR BIA RTE 2

S 449

IRR BIA RTE 006

US 2

COUNTY RD 332

7TH AVE N

HINGHAM ROAD

US 2

S FRESNO RD

S 234

REUM RD

COUNTY ROAD 801 NW

CLEAR CREEK RD SE

SWAMP COULEE RD

US 2

US 2

IRR BIA RTE 6

WARRICK RD

BEAVER CREEK RD

S 255

S 255

IRR - US 87

US 87

IRRS 234

IRRS 234

ROAD 70 S

IRRS 234

IRRS 234

BIA 35

IRR BIA RTE 55

US 2

ROAD 50 N

ROAD 290 N

IRR ROUTE 46

48TH ST W

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