Total bridges
28
Public highway bridges in Musselshell County
County profile · official public datasets
Musselshell County, MT
28 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.1% rated Good, 39.3% Fair, 3.6% Poor.
- 28
- Public bridges
- 57.1%
- Good condition
- 3.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Musselshell County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 21%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 28
- public highway bridges
- 1986
- 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.
Musselshell County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Musselshell County ranks #12 of 56 Montana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Musselshell County, Montana contains 28 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.1% are rated “Good,” 39.3% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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
57.1%
16 of 28 rated 7-9
Fair condition
39.3%
11 of 28 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.6%
1 of 28 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#12 of 56
Among Montana counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 28 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 57.1% (16)
Fair 39.3% (11)
Poor 3.6% (1)
Musselshell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 100 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 100 crossings a day against 718 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 28 of 28 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
28.6% of Musselshell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
8 of the 28 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 57.1% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
HARVEY RD over MUSSELSHELL RIVER 018, built 1916, 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Musselshell County's bridges were built
28 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1960s 1
1960–1969
1 bridges
- 1970s 2
1970–1979
2 bridges
- 1980s 1
1980–1989
1 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
6 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
6 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 6 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 9 years newer than the Montana average of 1977.
How Musselshell County compares with Montana's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Montana counties nearest Musselshell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 13 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 55 Montana counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musselshell County (this page) | 28 | 57.1% | 39.3% | 3.6% | 1986 |
| Garfield County | 26 | 38.5% | 57.7% | 3.8% | 1989 |
| Petroleum County | 26 | 30.8% | 53.8% | 15.4% | 1967 |
| Treasure County | 26 | 34.6% | 50% | 15.4% | 1966 |
| Wheatland County | 26 | 30.8% | 61.5% | 7.7% | 1967 |
| Wibaux County | 25 | 12% | 84% | 4% | 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 Musselshell 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 Musselshell County, both outside Montana so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MT (28 bridges here).
- Crowley County, CO · 28 bridges
- Dolores County, CO · 28 bridges
- Lafayette County, FL · 28 bridges
- Union County, FL · 28 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MT (1986 here).
- El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
- Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
- Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
- Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (28)
4-H RD
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 008
SE ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1970 Load: 9.0 t ADT: 528
DEAN CREEK RD
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 004
15M SW ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1988 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 100
MUSSELSHELL RD
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 015
6M W MUSSELSHELL, Musselshell, MT
Built 1916 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 34
US 12
FairOver: WILLOW CREEK
4M NE ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1999 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 573
HARVEY RD
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 024
3M SW MELSTONE, Musselshell, MT
Built 2013 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 100
COUNTY ROAD 548
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 025
ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 2013 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 100
GOULDING CREEK RD
FairOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER
7M SW ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1949 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 246
GOULDING CREEK RD
FairOver: HARPER`S COULEE
11M SW ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1954 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 136
US 12
FairOver: DEAN CREEK
6M E LAVINA, Musselshell, MT
Built 1935 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 438
US 12
FairOver: CURRANT CREEK
7M SW ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1936 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 438
US 12
FairOver: DRAINAGE
3M SW MELSTONE, Musselshell, MT
Built 2003 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 358
MAJERUS RD
GoodOver: BULL MTN RR 023
14M SE ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 2009 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 36
NUMBER 4 RD
GoodOver: MUSSLESHELL RIVER 011
1M E ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1995 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 100
E PARROT CREEK RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 012
7M NE ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 2016 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 80
US 87
GoodOver: RAZOR CREEK
16M S KLEIN, Musselshell, MT
Built 1995 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 2,497
MELSTONE-CUSTER RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 017
1M SE MELSTONE, Musselshell, MT
Built 1992 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 115
S MUSSELSHELL RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER
MUSSELSHELL, Musselshell, MT
Built 1960 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 156
US 87
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER
ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1996 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 2,677
US 87
GoodOver: SOUTH WILLOW CREEK
7M N ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 1976 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 1,155
US 12
GoodOver: STOCKPASS-DRAINAGE
3M NE MUSSELSHELL, Musselshell, MT
Built 2003 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 358
RAGGED POINT RD
GoodOver: DRAINAGE
6 M N US 12, Musselshell, MT
Built 2015 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 32
QUEENS POINT RD
GoodOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 019
6M SW MELSTONE, Musselshell, MT
Built 2017 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 100
FARREL ST
GoodOver: HALF BREED CREEK
KLEIN, Musselshell, MT
Built 2021 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 100
US 12
GoodOver: HORSETHIEF CREEK
3M SW ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 2015 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 665
US 87
GoodOver: PARK COULEE
16M S KLEIN, Musselshell, MT
Built 1995 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 2,497
US 12
GoodOver: DRAINAGE
12M W ROUNDUP, Musselshell, MT
Built 2006 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 438
US 12
GoodOver: DRAINAGE
1M N MUSSELSHELL, Musselshell, MT
Built 2003 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 477
HARVEY RD
PoorOver: MUSSELSHELL RIVER 018
3M SW MELSTONE, Musselshell, MT
Built 1916 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 100
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.