County profile · official public datasets

Bottineau County, ND

124 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29% rated Good, 53.2% Fair, 17.7% Poor.

124
Public bridges: 29%
Good condition: 17.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 53 on Poor share: 17.7%
Poor-condition share: 124
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.

Bottineau County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bottineau County ranks #45 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 17.7%). Bottineau County, North Dakota contains 124 public highway bridges. Roughly 29% are rated “Good,” 53.2% “Fair,” and 17.7% “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

124

Public highway bridges in Bottineau County

Good condition

29%

36 of 124 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.2%

66 of 124 rated 5-6

Poor condition

17.7%

22 of 124 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 124 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29% (36)

Fair

53.2% (66)

Poor

17.7% (22)

Bottineau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 648 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 17.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 29 crossings a day against 461 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 124 of 124 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.1% of Bottineau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

77 of the 124 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 29% 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 26.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY ROAD 0520 over SOURIS RIVER, built 1960, carries 170 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 648 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

20
1940s

12
1950s

11
1960s

24
1970s

16
1980s

3
1990s

3
2000s

15
2010s

14
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 24 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Bottineau County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 17.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bottineau County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
McKenzie County	129	60.5%	37.2%	2.3%	1996
Bottineau County (this page)	124	29%	53.2%	17.7%	1972
Ward County	123	43.9%	48.8%	7.3%	1980
Burleigh County	113	50.4%	47.8%	1.8%	1979
McHenry County	112	20.5%	51.8%	27.7%	1960
Williams County	100	37%	40%	23%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (124 bridges here).

Bannock County, ID · 124 bridges
Breathitt County, KY · 124 bridges
Caldwell County, LA · 124 bridges
St. Mary County, LA · 124 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.

All 124 Good 36 Fair 66 Poor 22

Fair-condition bridges (66)

Sort:

Bottineau County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bottineau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 648 vehicle crossings a day

62.1% of Bottineau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bottineau 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

Fair-condition bridges (66)

SECTION LINE ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

SECTION LINE ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

LAKE ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

SECTION LINE ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

SECTION LINE TRAIL

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

US HIGHWAY 5

COUNTY ROAD 0506

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 0520

US HIGHWAY 83

US HIGHWAY 83

COUNTY ROAD 0503

COUNTY ROAD 0522

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

SECTION LINE TRAIL

SECTION LINE TRAIL

ND HIGHWAY 5

ND HIGHWAY 5

CITY STREET

ND HIGHWAY 14

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD 0549

COUNTY ROAD 0547

COUNTY ROAD

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