County profile · official public datasets

Towner County, ND

58 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.5% rated Good, 39.7% Fair, 25.9% Poor.

58
Public bridges: 34.5%
Good condition: 25.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Towner County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

52nd
of 53 on Poor share: 25.9%
Poor-condition share: 58
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.

Towner County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Towner County ranks #52 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 25.9%). Towner County, North Dakota contains 58 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.5% are rated “Good,” 39.7% “Fair,” and 25.9% “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 Towner County

Good condition

34.5%

20 of 58 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.7%

23 of 58 rated 5-6

Poor condition

25.9%

15 of 58 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 58 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.5% (20)

Fair

39.7% (23)

Poor

25.9% (15)

Towner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,341 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 25.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 89 crossings a day against 141 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 58 of 58 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.3% of Towner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

28 of the 58 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 34.5% 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 47.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ND HIGHWAY 17 over CREEK, built 1931, carries 640 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,341 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

4
1950s

5
1960s

13
1970s

6
1980s

5
1990s

5
2000s

8
2010s

6
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 13 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Towner County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 25.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Towner County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hettinger County	64	34.4%	50%	15.6%	1963
Billings County	60	61.7%	35%	3.3%	1979
Grant County	60	45%	45%	10%	1968
LaMoure County	60	48.3%	40%	11.7%	1972
Towner County (this page)	58	34.5%	39.7%	25.9%	1978
McLean County	57	40.4%	54.4%	5.3%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (58 bridges here).

Wrangell City and County, AK · 58 bridges
Jeff Davis County, GA · 58 bridges
Putnam County, GA · 58 bridges
Union County, IN · 58 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.

All 58 Good 20 Fair 23 Poor 15

All bridges (58)

Sort:

Towner County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Towner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,341 vehicle crossings a day

48.3% of Towner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Towner 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

All bridges (58)

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