County profile · official public datasets

Valley County, MT

104 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 10.6% rated Good, 76.9% Fair, 12.5% Poor.

104
Public bridges: 10.6%
Good condition: 12.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

49th
of 56 on Poor share: 12.5%
Poor-condition share: 104
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Valley County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Valley County ranks #49 of 56 Montana counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.5%). Valley County, Montana contains 104 public highway bridges. Roughly 10.6% are rated “Good,” 76.9% “Fair,” and 12.5% “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

104

Public highway bridges in Valley County

Good condition

10.6%

11 of 104 rated 7-9

Fair condition

76.9%

80 of 104 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.5%

13 of 104 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 56

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

Condition distribution

Share of 104 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

10.6% (11)

Fair

76.9% (80)

Poor

12.5% (13)

Valley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,069 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 390 crossings a day against 392 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 104 of 104 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.1% of Valley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 104 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 10.6% 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 27.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 2 over CHAPMAN COULEE, built 1948, carries 1,409 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,069 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

9
1940s

8
1950s

8
1960s

20
1970s

9
1980s

19
1990s

11
2000s

8
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Montana average (1977).

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

The 5 Montana counties nearest Valley County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Valley County and the 5 Montana counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dawson County	109	8.3%	85.3%	6.4%	1972
Valley County (this page)	104	10.6%	76.9%	12.5%	1975
Blaine County	102	33.3%	56.9%	9.8%	1969
Phillips County	101	13.9%	69.3%	16.8%	1972
Madison County	97	32%	56.7%	11.3%	1981
Richland County	97	28.9%	68%	3.1%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MT (104 bridges here).

Nassau County, FL · 104 bridges
Brooks County, GA · 104 bridges
Grady County, GA · 104 bridges
Bonner County, ID · 104 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MT (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 104 Good 11 Fair 80 Poor 13

All bridges (104)

Sort:

Valley County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Valley County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,069 vehicle crossings a day

48.1% of Valley County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Valley 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 (104)

BEAVERTON RD

HINSDALE N RD

BENGOCHEA RD

BILLINGSLEY RD

CACHE CREEK RD

S 117

BAYLOR RD

N BENCH RD

RIVERSIDE DR

COUNTY ROAD 605

TAMPICO RD

SNAKE CREEK RD

BEAVER CREEK RD

2009: TC ACCESS

CACHE CREEK RD

HINSDALE N RD

S 248

TAMPICO RD N

GEER RD

FOX FARM RD

AITKEN RD

US 2

IRR - S 24

IRR - US 2

IRR - S 24

TAMPICO RD

IRR BIA RTE 10

IRR BIA ROUTE 1

IRR BIA ROUTE 1

NEW DEAL RD

AITKEN RD

GRAIN EAST RD

BERGE RD

FOX FARM RD

BJORNBERG BRDG RD

OSWEGO NORTH RD

BRAZIL CREEK RD

US 2

S 248

ROCK CREEK RD

HINSDALE N RD

LIBERTY RD

US 2

IRR - US 2

SR 537

US 2

US 2

IRR - S 24

IRR - S 24

FOX FARM RD

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