Total bridges
45
Public highway bridges in Adams County
County profile · official public datasets
Adams County, ND
45 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.6% rated Good, 51.1% Fair, 13.3% Poor.
- 45
- Public bridges
- 35.6%
- Good condition
- 13.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Adams County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 38th
- of 53 on Poor share
- 13.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 45
- public highway bridges
- 1972
- 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.
Adams County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Adams County ranks #38 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.3%). Adams County, North Dakota contains 45 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.6% are rated “Good,” 51.1% “Fair,” and 13.3% “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
35.6%
16 of 45 rated 7-9
Fair condition
51.1%
23 of 45 rated 5-6
Poor condition
13.3%
6 of 45 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#38 of 53
Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 45 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.6% (16)
Fair 51.1% (23)
Poor 13.3% (6)
Adams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8 crossings a day against 396 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 45 of 45 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
44.4% of Adams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
20 of the 45 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 35.6% 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 21.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
14TH ST SW over BUFFALO CREEK, built 1919, carries 10 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 46 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Adams County's bridges were built
45 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s 3
1960–1969
3 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
8 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
7 bridges
- 1990s 3
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
8 bridges
- 2010s 2
2010–2019
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 9 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the North Dakota average (1975).
How Adams County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Adams County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 13 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 52 North Dakota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsey County | 48 | 43.8% | 47.9% | 8.3% | 1987 |
| Adams County (this page) | 45 | 35.6% | 51.1% | 13.3% | 1972 |
| Dickey County | 43 | 62.8% | 37.2% | 0% | 1986 |
| Slope County | 43 | 86% | 14% | 0% | 1989 |
| Wells County | 41 | 61% | 31.7% | 7.3% | 1980 |
| Benson County | 40 | 57.5% | 25% | 17.5% | 1983 |
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 Adams 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 Adams County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ND (45 bridges here).
- Dawson County, GA · 45 bridges
- Miller County, GA · 45 bridges
- Twiggs County, GA · 45 bridges
- Caribou County, ID · 45 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1972 here).
- Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
- Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
- Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
- York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (16)
US HIGHWAY 12
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
9 EAST JCT. ND 22 NORTH, Adams, ND
Built 2007 Load: 24.6 t ADT: 1,180
US HIGHWAY 12
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
WEST EDGE OF HETTINGER, Adams, ND
Built 1941 Load: 31.3 t ADT: 1,370
Bucryus Road
GoodOver: DUCK CREEK
5 NORTH OF BUCYRUS, Adams, ND
Built 1980 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 50
3 Mile Bridge Road
GoodOver: DUCK CREEK
2 WEST 7 NORTH HETTINGER, Adams, ND
Built 1982 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 70
14TH AVE. NE
GoodOver: TIMBER CREEK
17 NORTH 2 EAST OF LEMMON, Adams, ND
Built 1983 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 15
27TH ST. NE
GoodOver: CEDAR CREEK
2 EAST 8 NORTH OF LEMMON, Adams, ND
Built 2006 Load: 32.9 t ADT: 100
5th Street NW
GoodOver: CHANTA PETA CREEK
18 NORTH 5 WEST HETTINGER, Adams, ND
Built 1980 Load: 33.3 t ADT: 70
US HIGHWAY 12
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
2 WEST JCT. ND 8 SOUTH, Adams, ND
Built 2007 Load: 36.5 t ADT: 1,180
Country Club Road
GoodOver: FLAT CREEK
2 EAST 1 SOUTH HETTINGER, Adams, ND
Built 2000 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 180
COUNTY ROAD
GoodOver: BUFFALO CREEK
8 SOUTH 1 EAST OF REEDER, Adams, ND
Built 2012 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 45
ND HIGHWAY 8
GoodOver: CEDAR CREEK
11 NORTH JCT. US 12, Adams, ND
Built 2011 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 355
23RD ST. NE
GoodOver: CEDAR CREEK
9 NORTH OF LEMMON, Adams, ND
Built 1975 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 140
ND HIGHWAY 22
GoodOver: LIGHTNING CREEK
2 NORTH OF S DAK BORDER, Adams, ND
Built 1972 Load: 54.8 t ADT: 290
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: LIGHTNING CREEK
10 SOUTH 1 EAST REEDER, Adams, ND
Built 1996 Load: 55.8 t ADT: 60
Bucyrus Road
GoodOver: CREEK
BUCYRUS, Adams, ND
Built 2007 Load: 58.4 t ADT: 50
US HIGHWAY 12
GoodOver: CREEK
1 WEST JCT. ND 22 SOUTH, Adams, ND
Built 2007 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,180
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.