County profile · official public datasets

Burleigh County, ND

113 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.4% rated Good, 47.8% Fair, 1.8% Poor.

113
Public bridges: 50.4%
Good condition: 1.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.8%
Poor-condition share: 113
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.

Burleigh County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Burleigh County ranks #7 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.8%). Burleigh County, North Dakota contains 113 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.4% are rated “Good,” 47.8% “Fair,” and 1.8% “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

113

Public highway bridges in Burleigh County

Good condition

50.4%

57 of 113 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.8%

54 of 113 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.8%

2 of 113 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 113 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.4% (57)

Fair

47.8% (54)

Poor

1.8% (2)

Burleigh County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 30 crossings a day against 1,784 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 113 of 113 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.1% of Burleigh County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

51 of the 113 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 50.4% 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 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

409th Ave NE over CREEK, built 1958, carries 30 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 60 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

5
1960s

36
1970s

16
1980s

23
1990s

7
2000s

12
2010s

4
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Burleigh County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Burleigh 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	124	29%	53.2%	17.7%	1972
Ward County	123	43.9%	48.8%	7.3%	1980
Burleigh County (this page)	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 Burleigh 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 Burleigh County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (113 bridges here).

Lake County, FL · 113 bridges
Chattooga County, GA · 113 bridges
Jersey County, IL · 113 bridges
Tipton County, IN · 113 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 113 Good 57 Fair 54 Poor 2

All bridges (113)

Sort:

Burleigh County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Burleigh County's Poor-condition bridges carry 60 vehicle crossings a day

45.1% of Burleigh County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Burleigh 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

All bridges (113)

89th Ave SE

236TH ST SE

275TH ST SE

CR 10

275TH ST SE

ROSSER AVENUE

ND HIGHWAY 14

APPLE CREEK RD

214th Ave NE

WACHTER AVENUE

201ST AVE NE

ND HIGHWAY 1804

145th St NE

145th St NE

WASHINGTON STREET

236TH ST NE

136TH AVE. NE

136TH AVE NE

184th St NE

223rd St NE

COUNTY HIGHWAY

INTERSTATE 94

INTERSTATE 94

INTERSTATE 94

26TH ST. NE

227th Ave NE

CITY STREET

APPLE CREEK ROAD

30th Ave NE

I-94 BUSINESS LOOP

123rd Ave NE

240th Ave NE

396TH AVE NE

162nd Ave NE

INTERSTATE 94

145th St NE

132nd St NE

15TH ST. NW

93rd St NE

INTERSTATE 94

US HIGHWAY 83

119th St NE

LINCOLN ROAD

US HIGHWAY 83

BISMARCK EXPWY.

275TH ST NE

US HIGHWAY

370th Ave NE

BIS EXPWY/CENT DR

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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