County profile · official public datasets

Williams County, ND

100 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37% rated Good, 40% Fair, 23% Poor.

100
Public bridges: 37%
Good condition: 23%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

50th
of 53 on Poor share: 23%
Poor-condition share: 100
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Williams County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Williams County ranks #50 of 53 North Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 23%). Williams County, North Dakota contains 100 public highway bridges. Roughly 37% are rated “Good,” 40% “Fair,” and 23% “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

100

Public highway bridges in Williams County

Good condition

37%

37 of 100 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40%

40 of 100 rated 5-6

Poor condition

23%

23 of 100 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 53

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

Condition distribution

Share of 100 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

37% (37)

Fair

40% (40)

Poor

23% (23)

Williams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,379 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 23% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 103 crossings a day against 2,798 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 100 of 100 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49% of Williams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 100 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 37% 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 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ND HIGHWAY 40 over BNRR SEP OVERHEAD, built 1988, carries 1,620 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,379 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

12
1930s

11
1940s

1
1950s

12
1960s

11
1970s

4
1980s

14
1990s

4
2000s

5
2010s

20
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the North Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 North Dakota counties nearest Williams County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 23% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1972 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 Williams County and the 5 North Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Burleigh County	113	50.4%	47.8%	1.8%	1979
McHenry County	112	20.5%	51.8%	27.7%	1960
Williams County (this page)	100	37%	40%	23%	1974
Steele County	94	51.1%	42.6%	6.4%	1973
Barnes County	79	55.7%	41.8%	2.5%	1978
Stutsman County	78	39.7%	53.8%	6.4%	1971

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside ND (100 bridges here).

Ketchikan Gateway County, AK · 100 bridges
Gunnison County, CO · 100 bridges
Monroe County, FL · 100 bridges
Fayette County, IN · 100 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside ND (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 100 Good 37 Fair 40 Poor 23

All bridges (100)

Sort:

Williams County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Williams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,379 vehicle crossings a day

49% of Williams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 68.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Williams 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 (100)

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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US HIGHWAY 2

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US HIGHWAY 85

US 2 BUS. LOOP

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US HIGHWAY 2

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ND HIGHWAY 1804

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ND HIGHWAY 1804

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FIRST AVENUE WEST

109TH AVE NW

11TH ST WEST

COUNTY HIGHWAY

ND HIGHWAY 1804

ND HIGHWAY 1804

32nd AVENUE WEST

COUNTY HIGHWAY

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