County profile · official public datasets

Billings County, ND

60 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 61.7% rated Good, 35% Fair, 3.3% Poor.

60
Public bridges: 61.7%
Good condition: 3.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Billings County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 25%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.3%
Poor-condition share: 60
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Billings County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Billings County ranks #13 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.3%). Billings County, North Dakota contains 60 public highway bridges. Roughly 61.7% are rated “Good,” 35% “Fair,” and 3.3% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Billings County

Good condition

61.7%

37 of 60 rated 7-9

Fair condition

35%

21 of 60 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.3%

2 of 60 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 53

Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 60 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

61.7% (37)

Fair

35% (21)

Poor

3.3% (2)

Billings County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,310 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 655 crossings a day against 117 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 60 of 60 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

38.3% of Billings County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

23 of the 60 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 61.7% 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 99.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

INTERSTATE 94 over SHEEP CREEK, built 1964, carries 1,300 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,310 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1940s

3
1950s

1
1960s

15
1970s

2
1980s

22
1990s

8
2000s

2
2010s

4
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

How Billings County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Billings County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 52 North Dakota counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Billings County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hettinger County	64	34.4%	50%	15.6%	1963
Grant County	60	45%	45%	10%	1968
LaMoure County	60	48.3%	40%	11.7%	1972
Billings County (this page)	60	61.7%	35%	3.3%	1979
Towner County	58	34.5%	39.7%	25.9%	1978
McLean County	57	40.4%	54.4%	5.3%	1973

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 Billings 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 Billings County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (60 bridges here).

Hamilton County, FL · 60 bridges
Hernando County, FL · 60 bridges
Madison County, FL · 60 bridges
Heard County, GA · 60 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 60 Good 37 Fair 21 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (37)

Sort:

Billings County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Billings County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,310 vehicle crossings a day

38.3% of Billings County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 99.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Billings County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (37)

1 LANE GRAVEL RD

1 LANE RD

1 LANE GRAVEL RD

NO DATA ENTERED

123RD AVE

EAST RIVER RD

FRANKS CREEK RD

23RD ST SW

SCENIC LOOP DRIVE

E RIVER ROAD S

EAST RIVER ROAD

W RIVER ROAD

126TH AVE SW

EAST RIVER ROAD

23rd St

Franks Creek Road

Whitetail Rd

SULLY CREEK ROAD

WANNAGAN CREEK RD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

FRANKS CREEK RD

COUNTY ROAD

US HIGHWAY 85

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

121ST AVE

COUNTY ROAD

NO DATA ENTERED

COUNTY HIGHWAY

NATIONAL PARK ROAD

NATIONAL PARK ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

123RD AVE SW

E River Road S

COUNTY ROAD

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