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.

When Bottineau County's bridges were built

124 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

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

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 Poor
McKenzie County 129 2.3%
Bottineau County (this page) 124 17.7%
Ward County 123 7.3%
Burleigh County 113 1.8%
McHenry County 112 27.7%
Williams County 100 23%

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).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1972 here).

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

All bridges (124)

US HIGHWAY 5

Good

Over: BRANCH OF STONE CREEK

3 EAST OF N.D.HWY 14, Bottineau, ND

Built 2006 Load: 89.3 t ADT: 2,750

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: WILLOW CREEK

7 EAST OF WILLOW CITY, Bottineau, ND

Built 2004 Load: 90.5 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: WATERWAY LAKE

4 WEST 4 NORTH OF MAXBASS, Bottineau, ND

Built 1938 Load: 2.3 t ADT: 25

SECTION LINE TRAIL

Poor

Over: BOUNDRY CREEK

5 NORTH 5 EAST OF SOURIS, Bottineau, ND

Built 1928 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 5

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: SOURIS RIVER

4 NORTH 1 EAST OF NEWBURG, Bottineau, ND

Built 1949 Load: 3.5 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CUT BANK CREEK

4 WEST 1 SOUTH OF ECKMAN, Bottineau, ND

Built 1952 Load: 5.2 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: ANTLER CREEK

2 NORTH OF ANTLER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1934 Load: 6.2 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: BOUNDARY CREEK

7 NORTH 3 WEST OF KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1952 Load: 7.2 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CUT BANK CREEK

6 NORTH 3 EAST LANSFORD, Bottineau, ND

Built 1949 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 30

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CREEK BED

3 NORTH 2 WEST OF OVERLY, Bottineau, ND

Built 1932 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 25

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: CREEK

1W 3S OF OVERLY, Bottineau, ND

Built 1938 Load: 9.8 t ADT: 45

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CREEK BED

3 NORTH 1 WEST WILLOWCITY, Bottineau, ND

Built 1935 Load: 10.4 t ADT: 35

SECTION LINE ROAD

Poor

Over: ANTLER CREEK

2 NORTH 1 WEST OF ANTLER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1939 Load: 11.1 t ADT: 8

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: BOUNDARY CREEK

6 NORTH 4 WEST OF KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1949 Load: 11.1 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CREEK BED

3 NORTH 2 EAST OF OMEMEE, Bottineau, ND

Built 1934 Load: 11.1 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: BOUNDARY CREEK

7 NORTH 3 WEST OF KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1970 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 25

SECTION LINE ROAD

Poor

Over: CREEK BED

2 EAST 5 SOUTH BOTTINEAU, Bottineau, ND

Built 1950 Load: 13.7 t ADT: 10

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: CREEK

4 NORTH 2 WEST OF OVERLY, Bottineau, ND

Built 1930 Load: 15.3 t ADT: 25

SECTION LINE ROAD

Poor

Over: OAK CREEK

2 WEST 3 SOUTH OF OMENEE, Bottineau, ND

Built 1956 Load: 17.0 t ADT: 5

COUNTY ROAD 0520

Poor

Over: SOURIS RIVER

1 SOUTH 4 WEST OF KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1960 Load: 20.5 t ADT: 170

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: DEEP RIVER

4 SOUTH 4 WEST KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1969 Load: 26.7 t ADT: 30

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: STONE CREEK

2 WEST 2 SOUTH OF KRAMER, Bottineau, ND

Built 1969 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 10

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: WEST CUT BANK CREEK

2 EAST 3 NORTH OF MOHALL, Bottineau, ND

Built 1970 Load: 40.7 t ADT: 25

COUNTY ROAD

Poor

Over: SPRING COULEE

3 EAST 1 SOUTH OF FORFAR, Bottineau, ND

Built 1969 Load: 57.6 t ADT: 25

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.