Total bridges
100
Public highway bridges in Williams County
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.
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.
When Williams County's bridges were built
100 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
12 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
11 bridges
- 1970s 4
1970–1979
4 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s 4
1990–1999
4 bridges
- 2000s 5
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
20 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
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.
| 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.
Fair-condition bridges (40)
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
1 WEST 1 SOUTH APPAM, Williams, ND
Built 1920 Load: 12.4 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: E. FORK LITTLE CREEK
2 EAST 12 NORTH WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1930 Load: 13.5 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: BN RR TRACKS
AT EPPING, Williams, ND
Built 1959 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 100
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: E FORK LITTLE MUDDY CRK
14 SOUTH ALAMO, Williams, ND
Built 1976 Load: 15.2 t ADT: 100
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: BEAVER CREEK
5 EAST 4 SOUTH RAY, Williams, ND
Built 1956 Load: 17.6 t ADT: 70
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: PAINTED WOODS CREEK
3 WEST OF US 85 SOUTH, Williams, ND
Built 1938 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 1,730
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
6 EAST 4 SOUTH ALAMO, Williams, ND
Built 1960 Load: 21.5 t ADT: 145
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: DRY FORK CREEK
1 EAST 12 SOUTH TIOGA, Williams, ND
Built 1964 Load: 22.2 t ADT: 24
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
2 EAST 5 NORTH WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1954 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 3,495
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
2 NORTH 1 EAST WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1984 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 340
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
4 SOUTH ALAMO, Williams, ND
Built 1920 Load: 25.8 t ADT: 100
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: STONY CREEK
2 SOUTH 3 WEST OF EPPING, Williams, ND
Built 1980 Load: 26.4 t ADT: 250
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
1 EAST 7 SOUTH OF CORINTH, Williams, ND
Built 1925 Load: 28.0 t ADT: 20
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LONG CREEK
12 SOUTH OF WHEELOCK, Williams, ND
Built 1968 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 130
US HIGHWAY 85
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
1 SOUTH OF ND 50, Williams, ND
Built 2016 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 3,075
US 2 BUS. LOOP
FairOver: SAND CREEK
WEST 2ND STREET WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1960 Load: 29.5 t ADT: 3,600
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CREEK
7 NORTH TEMPLE, Williams, ND
Built 1958 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 10
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: PAINTED WOODS CREEK
1 WEST 9 NORTH TRENTON, Williams, ND
Built 1955 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 50
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CAMP CREEK
4 NORTH WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1953 Load: 31.6 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: PAINTED WOODS CREEK
6 NORTH TRENTON, Williams, ND
Built 1925 Load: 31.7 t ADT: 24
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: E FORK LITTLE MUDDY CRK
2 WEST 2 SOUTH ALAMO, Williams, ND
Built 1966 Load: 32.1 t ADT: 24
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: IRRIGATION DITCH
16 W. 11 S. OF WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 1936 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 20
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: COW CREEK
3 SOUTH OF US 85 NORTH, Williams, ND
Built 1955 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 1,365
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: SAND CREEK
4 EAST OF US 85 SOUTH, Williams, ND
Built 1960 Load: 34.8 t ADT: 2,550
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: DRY FORK CREEK
12 EAST 7 SOUTH RAY, Williams, ND
Built 1972 Load: 35.2 t ADT: 25
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: CREEK
3 EAST 14 N WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 2021 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 226
ND HIGHWAY 1804
FairOver: PAINTED WOODS CREEK
2 NORTHEAST TRENTON, Williams, ND
Built 1989 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 2,020
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
1 EAST OF US 85 NORTH, Williams, ND
Built 1955 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 1,900
US HIGHWAY 85
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
7 NORTH OF US 2, Williams, ND
Built 2016 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 3,075
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: CREEK
4 EAST OF US 85 NORTH, Williams, ND
Built 2006 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,900
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: BN RAILROAD
CITY OF RAY, Williams, ND
Built 1997 Load: 40.9 t ADT: 915
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: COW CREEK
3 SOUTH OF US 85 NORTH, Williams, ND
Built 1978 Load: 42.2 t ADT: 1,365
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: STONY CREEK
2 SOUTH OF EPPING, Williams, ND
Built 1979 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 100
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: BN RAILROAD
CITY OF RAY, Williams, ND
Built 1997 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 915
ND HIGHWAY 1804
FairOver: B N RAILROAD
3 EAST OF US 2, Williams, ND
Built 1987 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 1,900
ND HIGHWAY 1804
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
2 EAST OF US 2, Williams, ND
Built 1981 Load: 46.4 t ADT: 2,700
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: LITTLE MUDDY RIVER
1 EAST 10 NORTH WILLISTON, Williams, ND
Built 2000 Load: 47.4 t ADT: 25
US HIGHWAY 2
FairOver: CREEK
12 EAST OF US HWY 85, Williams, ND
Built 2006 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 1,900
COUNTY HIGHWAY
FairOver: BURLINGTON NORTHERN RR
AT BUFORD, Williams, ND
Built 1993 Load: 63.1 t ADT: 120
ND HIGHWAY 1804
FairOver: EIGHT MILE CREEK
3 SOUTHWEST TRENTON, Williams, ND
Built 1989 Load: 90.5 t ADT: 1,450
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.