Total bridges
41
Public highway bridges in Wells County
County profile · official public datasets
Wells County, ND
41 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 61% rated Good, 31.7% Fair, 7.3% Poor.
- 41
- Public bridges
- 61%
- Good condition
- 7.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wells 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 45%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 7.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 41
- 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.
Wells County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wells County ranks #24 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Wells County, North Dakota contains 41 public highway bridges. Roughly 61% are rated “Good,” 31.7% “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.
Good condition
61%
25 of 41 rated 7-9
Fair condition
31.7%
13 of 41 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.3%
3 of 41 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#24 of 53
Among North Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 41 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 61% (25)
Fair 31.7% (13)
Poor 7.3% (3)
Wells County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.3% 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 8 crossings a day against 126 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 41 of 41 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
26.8% of Wells County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
11 of the 41 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 61% 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 40% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
COUNTY HIGHWAY over SHEYENNE RIVER, built 1955, carries 10 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 25 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Wells County's bridges were built
41 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1950s 5
1950–1959
5 bridges
- 1960s 5
1960–1969
5 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s 5
1990–1999
5 bridges
- 2000s 2
2000–2009
2 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 17 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 41.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 5 years newer than the North Dakota average of 1975.
How Wells County compares with North Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Wells 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 1980 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams County | 45 | 35.6% | 51.1% | 13.3% | 1972 |
| Dickey County | 43 | 62.8% | 37.2% | 0% | 1986 |
| Slope County | 43 | 86% | 14% | 0% | 1989 |
| Wells County (this page) | 41 | 61% | 31.7% | 7.3% | 1980 |
| Benson County | 40 | 57.5% | 25% | 17.5% | 1983 |
| Ransom County | 35 | 51.4% | 37.1% | 11.4% | 1968 |
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 Wells 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 Wells County, both outside North Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ND (41 bridges here).
- Saguache County, CO · 41 bridges
- Echols County, GA · 41 bridges
- Pike County, GA · 41 bridges
- Ohio County, IN · 41 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.
Fair-condition bridges (13)
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
3 NORTH FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1951 Load: 15.8 t ADT: 235
COUNTY ROAD
FairOver: SHEYENNE RIVER
10 EAST 4 NORTH OF HARVEY, Wells, ND
Built 1979 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
8 EAST 2 NORTH FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1981 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 10
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: N ROCKFORD CANAL NR1-8
6 NORTH OF FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1983 Load: 23.8 t ADT: 235
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
3 NORTH 2 EAST FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1953 Load: 24.7 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
3 NORTH 2 WEST FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1955 Load: 27.4 t ADT: 20
US HIGHWAY 52
FairOver: SHEYENNE RIVER
1 NORTHWEST OF ND 3 SOUTH, Wells, ND
Built 1962 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 1,300
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
11 EAST 6 NORTH FESSENDEN, Wells, ND
Built 1966 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 110
ND HIGHWAY 30
FairOver: JAMES RIVER
2 NORTH ND 15, Wells, ND
Built 1982 Load: 41.4 t ADT: 220
US HIGHWAY 52
FairOver: PIPESTEM CREEK
1 WEST ND 30, Wells, ND
Built 1979 Load: 59.1 t ADT: 1,290
US HIGHWAY 52
FairOver: ROCKY RUN CREEK
6 NORTH OF ND 200 WEST, Wells, ND
Built 1968 Load: 78.0 t ADT: 940
53rd Avenue NE
FairOver: New Rockford Canal
10.3 mi E-NE of Fessenden, Wells, ND
Built 1982 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 50
US HIGHWAY 52
FairOver: PIPESTEM CREEK
3 EAST OF ND 200 WEST, Wells, ND
Built 1979 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,160
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.