County profile · official public datasets

Emmons County, ND

67 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.7% rated Good, 31.3% Fair, 3% Poor.

67
Public bridges: 65.7%
Good condition: 3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 3%
Poor-condition share: 67
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Emmons County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Emmons County ranks #12 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3%). Emmons County, North Dakota contains 67 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.7% are rated “Good,” 31.3% “Fair,” and 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 Emmons County

Good condition

65.7%

44 of 67 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.3%

21 of 67 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2 of 67 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 67 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.7% (44)

Fair

31.3% (21)

Poor

3% (2)

Emmons County's Poor-condition bridges carry 560 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 280 crossings a day against 416 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 67 of 67 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.3% of Emmons County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 67 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 65.7% 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 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ND HIGHWAY 13 over SAND CREEK, built 1977, carries 350 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 560 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

1
1940s

7
1950s

8
1960s

9
1970s

5
1980s

9
1990s

10
2000s

8
2010s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 10 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 14.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Emmons County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1977 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 Emmons County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dunn County	74	62.2%	35.1%	2.7%	1988
Mercer County	72	40.3%	54.2%	5.6%	1975
Bowman County	69	65.2%	31.9%	2.9%	1984
Emmons County (this page)	67	65.7%	31.3%	3%	1975
Cavalier County	66	24.2%	50%	25.8%	1973
Hettinger County	64	34.4%	50%	15.6%	1963

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (67 bridges here).

Okeechobee County, FL · 67 bridges
Stephens County, GA · 67 bridges
Garrard County, KY · 67 bridges
Sequatchie County, TN · 67 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 67 Good 44 Fair 21 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (44)

Sort:

Emmons County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Emmons County's Poor-condition bridges carry 560 vehicle crossings a day

43.3% of Emmons County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 62.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Emmons 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 (44)

72ND ST SW

1ST AVE SW

22nd Ave

89th St SE

ND HIGHWAY 34

80TH ST SW

8TH AVE SE

22nd Ave SE

ND HIGHWAY 1804

74th St SE

9TH AVE SW

63RD ST SW

US HIGHWAY 83

93RD ST SW

3RD AVE SW

89TH ST SW

3RD AVE SE

ND HIGHWAY 1804

ND HIGHWAY 1804

US HIGHWAY 83

US HIGHWAY 83

79th St SE

19th Ave. SE

89TH ST SE

5TH AVE SW

US HIGHWAY 83

ND HIGHWAY 1804

US HIGHWAY 83

US HIGHWAY 83

US HIGHWAY 83

3RD AVE SE

15th Ave SE

13TH AVE SE

ND HIGHWAY 34

96TH ST SE

ND HIGHWAY 13

17TH AVE SE

86TH ST SE

76TH ST SE

6TH AVE SE

59th St NE

ND HIGHWAY 1804

Schley Ave

ND HIGHWAY 1804

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