Total bridges
30
Public highway bridges in Sargent County
County profile · official public datasets
Sargent County, ND
30 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.3% rated Good, 30% Fair, 16.7% Poor.
- 30
- Public bridges
- 53.3%
- Good condition
- 16.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Sargent County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 41st
- of 53 on Poor share
- 16.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 30
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Sargent County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sargent County ranks #41 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.7%). Sargent County, North Dakota contains 30 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.3% are rated “Good,” 30% “Fair,” and 16.7% “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
53.3%
16 of 30 rated 7-9
Fair condition
30%
9 of 30 rated 5-6
Poor condition
16.7%
5 of 30 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#41 of 53
Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 30 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 53.3% (16)
Fair 30% (9)
Poor 16.7% (5)
Sargent County's Poor-condition bridges carry 698 vehicle crossings a day
That is 18.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 140 crossings a day against 159 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 30 of 30 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
43.3% of Sargent County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
13 of the 30 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 53.3% 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 93.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
ND HIGHWAY 11 over WILD RICE RIVER, built 1951, carries 650 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 698 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Sargent County's bridges were built
30 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
7 bridges
- 1960s 1
1960–1969
1 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
4 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
6 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 7 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the North Dakota average (1975).
How Sargent County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Sargent County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ransom County | 35 | 51.4% | 37.1% | 11.4% | 1968 |
| Golden Valley County | 34 | 38.2% | 61.8% | 0% | 1968 |
| Sargent County (this page) | 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 | 27 | 59.3% | 37% | 3.7% | 1989 |
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 Sargent 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 Sargent County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ND (30 bridges here).
- Nome County, AK · 30 bridges
- Bleckley County, GA · 30 bridges
- Lake County, MI · 30 bridges
- Box Butte County, NE · 30 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (16)
ND HIGHWAY 11
GoodOver: WINDING CREEK
1 EAST OF CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1951 Load: 18.4 t ADT: 650
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
2 SOUTH OF CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1989 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 150
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
2 SOUTH OF CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1986 Load: 31.3 t ADT: 163
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
3 NORTH OF CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1984 Load: 32.3 t ADT: 160
REFUGE ACCESS ROAD
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
SECT 5 T129N R53W, Sargent, ND
Built 2001 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
5 EAST 6 NORTH CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1991 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 80
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
6 SOUTH 1 WEST MILNOR, Sargent, ND
Built 2013 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 55
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
3 SOUTH 2 EAST OF RUTLAND, Sargent, ND
Built 2009 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
3.5 SOUTH 3 EAST DELAMERE, Sargent, ND
Built 2016 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY 10
GoodOver: CREEK
2 SOUTH OF RUTLAND, Sargent, ND
Built 2010 Load: 46.6 t ADT: 260
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: UNNAMED CREEK
9 SOUTH 1 EAST CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1993 Load: 49.7 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
6 SOUTH 1 EAST MILNOR, Sargent, ND
Built 2013 Load: 51.5 t ADT: 55
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CROOKED CREEK
6 SOUTH 1 WEST MILNOR, Sargent, ND
Built 2013 Load: 53.2 t ADT: 55
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
4 NORTH 2 EAST OF CAYUGA, Sargent, ND
Built 1999 Load: 56.1 t ADT: 20
ND HIGHWAY 32
GoodOver: WILD RICE RIVER
4 SOUTH OF ND 11 EAST, Sargent, ND
Built 2016 Load: 69.0 t ADT: 770
COUNTY HIGHWAY
GoodOver: CREEK
5 WEST 4 NORTH STIRUM, Sargent, ND
Built 2004 Load: 75.9 t ADT: 40
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.