County profile · official public datasets

Ward County, ND

123 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.9% rated Good, 48.8% Fair, 7.3% Poor.

123
Public bridges: 43.9%
Good condition: 7.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ward 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 43%
lowest Poor share in state: 7.3%
Poor-condition share: 123
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Ward County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ward County ranks #23 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Ward County, North Dakota contains 123 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.9% are rated “Good,” 48.8% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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

123

Public highway bridges in Ward County

Good condition

43.9%

54 of 123 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.8%

60 of 123 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.3%

9 of 123 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 123 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.9% (54)

Fair

48.8% (60)

Poor

7.3% (9)

Ward County's Poor-condition bridges carry 330 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 37 crossings a day against 2,837 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 123 of 123 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.7% of Ward County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 123 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 43.9% 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 24.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY ROAD over DES LACS RIVER, built 1967, carries 80 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 330 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1940s

5
1950s

7
1960s

39
1970s

14
1980s

17
1990s

13
2000s

10
2010s

14
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 5 years newer than the North Dakota average of 1975.

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Ward County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1976 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 Ward County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
McKenzie County	129	60.5%	37.2%	2.3%	1996
Bottineau County	124	29%	53.2%	17.7%	1972
Ward County (this page)	123	43.9%	48.8%	7.3%	1980
Burleigh County	113	50.4%	47.8%	1.8%	1979
McHenry County	112	20.5%	51.8%	27.7%	1960
Williams County	100	37%	40%	23%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (123 bridges here).

Jackson County, GA · 123 bridges
Crawford County, IN · 123 bridges
Hickman County, KY · 123 bridges
Bladen County, NC · 123 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 123 Good 54 Fair 60 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (60)

Sort:

Ward County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ward County's Poor-condition bridges carry 330 vehicle crossings a day

44.7% of Ward County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 24.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ward 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

Fair-condition bridges (60)

COUNTY HWY

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY ROAD

2ND AVENUE S.W.

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

16TH ST S.W.

COUNTY HIGHWAY

3 RD AVE N.W.

COUNTY ROAD

3RD AVE N.W.

US HIGHWAY 52

3RD ST. N.E.

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

REFUGE SERVICE RD

COUNTY ROAD

SECTION LINE TRAIL

27TH ST.SE

COUNTY ROAD

SECTION LINE TRAIL

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US HIGHWAY 2

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY HIGHWAY

SECTION LINE TRAIL

US HIGHWAY 2

US HIGHWAY 52

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US HIGHWAY 52

US HIGHWAY 52

COUNTY HIGHWAY

COUNTY HIGHWAY

US HIGHWAY 52

COUNTY HIGHWAY

27TH ST S.E.

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

SIRROCCO DRIVE

US HIGHWAY 2

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD

US HIGHWAY 52

US HIGHWAY 2 & 52

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