County profile · official public datasets

Powder River County, MT

23 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.2% rated Good, 47.8% Fair, 0% Poor.

23
Public bridges
52.2%
Good condition
0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Powder River County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state
0%
Poor-condition share
23
public highway bridges
1988
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.

Powder River County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Powder River County ranks #2 of 56 Montana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Powder River County, Montana contains 23 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.2% are rated “Good,” 47.8% “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.

Total bridges

23

Public highway bridges in Powder River County

Good condition

52.2%

12 of 23 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.8%

11 of 23 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0%

0 of 23 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 56

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

Condition distribution

Share of 23 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
52.2% (12)
Fair
47.8% (11)
Poor
0% (0)

26.1% of Powder River County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

6 of the 23 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 52.2% 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 Powder River County's bridges were built

23 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 5 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 11 years newer than the Montana average of 1977.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Montana counties nearest Powder River 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 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 15 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Powder River County and the 5 Montana counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Garfield County 26 3.8%
Petroleum County 26 15.4%
Treasure County 26 15.4%
Wheatland County 26 7.7%
Wibaux County 25 4%
Powder River County (this page) 23 0%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MT (23 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MT (1988 here).

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

All 23 Good 12 Fair 11 Poor 0

All bridges (23)

CAMP CREEK RD

Fair

Over: PUMPKIN CREEK 021

24M NW BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1915 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 100

S 391-MOORHEAD RD

Fair

Over: DRAINAGE OVERFLOW

4M SW BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1935 Load: 15.4 t ADT: 74

BIG POWDER R E RD

Fair

Over: LITTLE POWDER RIVER 028

5M E BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1947 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 106

BELLE CREEK RD

Fair

Over: LITTLE POWDER RIVER 011

20M S BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1970 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 50

S 484 FH 51

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

27M SE ASHLAND, Powder River, MT

Built 1999 Load: 29.9 t ADT: 35

US 212

Fair

Over: LITTLE POWDER RIVER

7M SE BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1976 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 2,463

POWDERVILLE RD E

Fair

Over: CROW CREEK 004

23M NE BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1986 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 48

S 484 FH 51

Fair

Over: OTTER CREEK

7M SE ASHLAND, Powder River, MT

Built 1963 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 77

US 212

Fair

Over: POWDER RIVER

1M SE BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1985 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 2,361

US 212

Fair

Over: E FK LITTLE POWDER RIVER

8M SE BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 1983 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 2,463

RD 552

Fair

Over: POWDER RIVER 016

2M E POWDERVILLE, Powder River, MT

Built 2008 Load: 42.6 t ADT: 48

Powderville RD E

Good

Over: North Fork Horse Creek

16 Miles NE of Broadus, Powder River, MT

Built 2023 ADT: 48

S 544

Good

Over: LITTLE POWDER RIVER

BIDDLE, Powder River, MT

Built 1974 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 138

MOORHEAD RD

Good

Over: POWDER RIVER 006

25M W BIDDLE, Powder River, MT

Built 2022 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 100

BREWER RD

Good

Over: TIMBER CREEK 017

2M E POWDERVILLE, Powder River, MT

Built 1996 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 100

MOBLEY RD

Good

Over: MIZPAH CREEK 019

7M NE OLIVE, Powder River, MT

Built 2014 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 100

CROSS S RD

Good

Over: MIZPAH CREEK 020

12M NE COALWOOD, Powder River, MT

Built 2013 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 100

S 59

Good

Over: MIZPAH CREEK

9M NW BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 2001 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 849

S 484

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

30M SE ASHLAND, Powder River, MT

Built 1999 Load: 51.7 t ADT: 20

US 212

Good

Over: PUMPKIN CREEK

20M W BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 2012 Load: 95.3 t ADT: 2,086

S 59

Good

Over: ROAD CREEK-STOCKPASS

6M NW BROADUS, Powder River, MT

Built 2001 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 849

US 212

Good

Over: E FORK OTTER CREEK

5M E ASHLAND, Powder River, MT

Built 1992 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,189

S 484

Good

Over: BEAR CREEK

30M SE ASHLAND, Powder River, MT

Built 1999 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 20

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.