Total bridges
27
Public highway bridges in Mountrail County
County profile · official public datasets
Mountrail County, ND
27 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 59.3% rated Good, 37% Fair, 3.7% Poor.
- 27
- Public bridges
- 59.3%
- Good condition
- 3.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Mountrail 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 26%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 27
- public highway bridges
- 1989
- 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.
Mountrail County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mountrail County ranks #14 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.7%). Mountrail County, North Dakota contains 27 public highway bridges. Roughly 59.3% are rated “Good,” 37% “Fair,” and 3.7% “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.
Good condition
59.3%
16 of 27 rated 7-9
Fair condition
37%
10 of 27 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.7%
1 of 27 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#14 of 53
Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 27 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 59.3% (16)
Fair 37% (10)
Poor 3.7% (1)
Mountrail County's Poor-condition bridges carry 20 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 20 crossings a day against 1,735 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 27 of 27 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
11.1% of Mountrail County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
3 of the 27 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 59.3% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
COUNTY HIGHWAY over COTTONWOOD LAKE, built 1946, carries 20 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 20 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Mountrail County's bridges were built
27 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
6 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
7 bridges
- 2000s 1
2000–2009
1 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
7 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 7 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1989, 14 years newer than the North Dakota average of 1975.
How Mountrail County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Mountrail County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 15 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 52 North Dakota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sargent County | 30 | 53.3% | 30% | 16.7% | 1978 |
| Burke County | 29 | 13.8% | 69% | 17.2% | 1968 |
| Eddy County | 27 | 59.3% | 29.6% | 11.1% | 1979 |
| Mountrail County (this page) | 27 | 59.3% | 37% | 3.7% | 1989 |
| Oliver County | 24 | 41.7% | 50% | 8.3% | 1974 |
| Renville County | 24 | 25% | 66.7% | 8.3% | 1972 |
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 Mountrail 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 Mountrail County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ND (27 bridges here).
- Denali County, AK · 27 bridges
- Phillips County, CO · 27 bridges
- Teller County, CO · 27 bridges
- Baker County, GA · 27 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1989 here).
- Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
- Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
- Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
- Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (10)
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: WHITE EARTH RIVER
AT WHITE EARTH, Mountrail, ND
Built 1977 Load: 20.8 t ADT: 80
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: SHELL CREEK
6 NORTH PARSHALL, Mountrail, ND
Built 1990 Load: 22.3 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CREEK
2 W 3 N WHITE EARTH, Mountrail, ND
Built 1975 Load: 24.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CREEK
3 WEST WHITE EARTH, Mountrail, ND
Built 1980 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: PAULSEN CREEK
1 NW WHITE EARTH, Mountrail, ND
Built 1980 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 169
IRRFB ND HIWAY 23
FairOver: CREEK
10 EAST OF N.D. 1804, Mountrail, ND
Built 1953 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 1,920
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: WHITE EARTH RIVER
3 SOUTH WHITE EARTH, Mountrail, ND
Built 1941 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 72
IRRFB ND HIWAY 37
FairOver: EAST BRANCH SHELL CREEK
2 SOUTH OF N.D. 23, Mountrail, ND
Built 1979 Load: 39.4 t ADT: 700
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: WHITE EARTH RIVER
10 MILES WEST OF ROSS, Mountrail, ND
Built 2005 Load: 43.0 t ADT: 1,575
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: WHITE EARTH RIVER
10 MILES WEST OF ROSS, Mountrail, ND
Built 1980 Load: 46.5 t ADT: 1,480
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.