Total bridges
272
Public highway bridges in Morton County
County profile · official public datasets
Morton County, ND
272 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.3% rated Good, 48.9% Fair, 8.8% Poor.
- 272
- Public bridges
- 42.3%
- Good condition
- 8.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Morton County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 29th
- of 53 on Poor share
- 8.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 272
- public highway bridges
- 1971
- 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.
Morton County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morton County ranks #29 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.8%). Morton County, North Dakota contains 272 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.3% are rated “Good,” 48.9% “Fair,” and 8.8% “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.
Good condition
42.3%
115 of 272 rated 7-9
Fair condition
48.9%
133 of 272 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.8%
24 of 272 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#29 of 53
Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 272 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 42.3% (115)
Fair 48.9% (133)
Poor 8.8% (24)
Morton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,414 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 148 crossings a day against 712 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 271 of 272 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
63.6% of Morton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
173 of the 272 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 42.3% 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 65.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
INTERSTATE 94 over CO HWY RR/EAGLE NEST INT, built 1962, carries 2,250 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 3,414 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Morton County's bridges were built
272 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 9
1910–1919
9 bridges
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 21
1940–1949
21 bridges
- 1950s 22
1950–1959
22 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
76 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
46 bridges
- 1980s 29
1980–1989
29 bridges
- 1990s 21
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s 16
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s 11
2010–2019
11 bridges
- 2020s 10
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 76 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1971) matches the North Dakota average (1975).
How Morton County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Morton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 52 North Dakota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cass County | 369 | 52% | 43.4% | 4.6% | 1987 |
| Grand Forks County | 335 | 30.4% | 57% | 12.5% | 1974 |
| Morton County (this page) | 272 | 42.3% | 48.9% | 8.8% | 1971 |
| Walsh County | 257 | 30% | 50.2% | 19.8% | 1969 |
| Pembina County | 204 | 22.5% | 54.9% | 22.5% | 1969 |
| Richland County | 197 | 38.1% | 48.7% | 13.2% | 1971 |
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 Morton 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 Morton County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ND (272 bridges here).
- Rock Island County, IL · 272 bridges
- Berrien County, MI · 272 bridges
- Bolivar County, MS · 272 bridges
- Blaine County, OK · 272 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1971 here).
- Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
- Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
- Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
- Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (115)
25TH AVE.
GoodOver: CREEK
6 NORTH 14 EAST OF JUDSON, Morton, ND
Built 1993 Load: 57.4 t ADT: 10
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CREEK
1 NORTH 6 WEST FT RICE, Morton, ND
Built 2001 Load: 57.8 t ADT: 75
ND HIGHWAY 6
GoodOver: SE BR-LITTLE HEART RIVER
1 EAST ST ANTHONY, Morton, ND
Built 1994 Load: 59.1 t ADT: 1,550
52ND ST
GoodOver: DRAINAGE AREA
4 SOUTH 9 WEST OF ALMONT, Morton, ND
Built 2005 Load: 60.1 t ADT: 35
ND HIGHWAY 6
GoodOver: LITTLE HEART RIVER
10 SOUTH OF MANDAN, Morton, ND
Built 1941 Load: 60.3 t ADT: 1,660
COUNTY ROAD 138
GoodOver: HEART BUTTE CREEK
4 WEST 5 SOUTH GLEN ULLIN, Morton, ND
Built 2002 Load: 61.3 t ADT: 96
MCKENZIE DR.SE
GoodOver: WATER WAY
LAKEWOOD HARBOR MANDAN, Morton, ND
Built 2007 Load: 62.3 t ADT: 250
BAY SHORE BEND SE
GoodOver: WATER WAY
LAKEWOOD HARBOR MANDAN, Morton, ND
Built 2007 Load: 62.3 t ADT: 250
SOUTH BAY DR.SE
GoodOver: WATER WAY
LAKEWOOD HARBOR MANDAN, Morton, ND
Built 2007 Load: 63.3 t ADT: 250
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: I-94/SWEET BRIAR INT
7 WEST OF ND 25, Morton, ND
Built 1964 Load: 63.7 t ADT: 200
PARK APPROACH RD.
GoodOver: CREEK
3 SOUTH OF I-94, Morton, ND
Built 1997 Load: 69.9 t ADT: 2,630
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CREEK
2 NORTH 3 EAST ST ANTHONY, Morton, ND
Built 2008 Load: 74.8 t ADT: 30
57TH AVE
GoodOver: WILSON CREEK
8 EAST 1 NORTH GLEN ULLIN, Morton, ND
Built 2009 Load: 78.4 t ADT: 15
ND HIGHWAY 1806
GoodOver: CREEK
8 NORTH OF I-94, Morton, ND
Built 2000 Load: 90.5 t ADT: 620
County Road 86
GoodOver: MUSKRAT CREEK
5 NORTH OF ALMONT, Morton, ND
Built 1999 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 155
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.