County profile · official public datasets

Cass County, ND

369 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52% rated Good, 43.4% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

369
Public bridges
52%
Good condition
4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cass County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state
4.6%
Poor-condition share
369
public highway bridges
1987
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.

Cass County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cass County ranks #17 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Cass County, North Dakota contains 369 public highway bridges. Roughly 52% are rated “Good,” 43.4% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

369

Public highway bridges in Cass County

Good condition

52%

192 of 369 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.4%

160 of 369 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

17 of 369 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#17 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 369 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
52% (192)
Fair
43.4% (160)
Poor
4.6% (17)

Cass County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,396 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 553 crossings a day against 2,834 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 369 of 369 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

36.3% of Cass County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

134 of the 369 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 52% 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 86.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY HIGHWAY over SHEYENNE RIVER, built 1971, carries 8,162 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,396 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Cass County's bridges were built

369 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 62 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 12 years newer than the North Dakota average of 1975.

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

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Cass County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 16 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cass County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Cass County (this page) 369 4.6%
Grand Forks County 335 12.5%
Morton County 272 8.8%
Walsh County 257 19.8%
Pembina County 204 22.5%
Richland County 197 13.2%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (369 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1987 here).

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

All 369 Good 192 Fair 160 Poor 17

All bridges (369)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: ELM RIVER TRIB. DRAIN

3 EAST OF HUNTER, Cass, ND

Built 1975 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Good

Over: DRAIN

3 S 1 E OF HARWOOD, Cass, ND

Built 2005 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 960

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: MAPLE RIVER

3 WEST 4 NORTH OF ALICE, Cass, ND

Built 1966 Load: 8.8 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: MAPLE RIVER

3 WEST 1 SOUTH OF ALICE, Cass, ND

Built 1950 Load: 12.3 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: CREEK

2 SOUTH OF HARWOOD, Cass, ND

Built 1976 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 24

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: RED RIVER OF THE NORTH

4 SOUTH 6 EAST OF GARDNER, Cass, ND

Built 1949 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 90

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: MAPLE RIVER

2 EAST 7 SOUTH OF ALICE, Cass, ND

Built 2011 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SWAN CREEK

1 EAST NORTH WHEATLAND, Cass, ND

Built 1955 Load: 20.2 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: CO DRAIN 15

1 EAST 3 NORTH LEONARD, Cass, ND

Built 1955 Load: 22.9 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: MAPLE RIVER

3 WEST 2 NORTH ALICE, Cass, ND

Built 1955 Load: 23.9 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: BRANCH OF ELM RIVER

5 EAST 1 SOUTH OF HUNTER, Cass, ND

Built 1968 Load: 24.4 t ADT: 10

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: RUSH RIVER

3 EAST 1 SOUTH OF AMENIA, Cass, ND

Built 1972 Load: 25.8 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: COUNTY DRAIN 12

2 WEST 1 NORTH OF HARWOOD, Cass, ND

Built 1961 Load: 26.4 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: RUSH RIVER

2 EAST 1 NORTH OF ERIE, Cass, ND

Built 1945 Load: 31.3 t ADT: 10

ND HIGHWAY 18

Poor

Over: MAPLE RIVER

8 NORTH OF LEONARD, Cass, ND

Built 1985 Load: 32.9 t ADT: 700

ND HIGHWAY 10

Poor

Over: SWAN CREEK

4 EAST OF ND 18, Cass, ND

Built 1959 Load: 35.8 t ADT: 210

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: I-94/MAPLE RIVER SEP

2 WEST OF ND 38, Cass, ND

Built 1960 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SWAN CREEK

2 EAST OF ABSARAKA, Cass, ND

Built 1950 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 20

COUNTY HIGHWAY

Poor

Over: SHEYENNE RIVER

4 SOUTH OF WEST FARGO, Cass, ND

Built 1971 Load: 48.7 t ADT: 8,162

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.