North Dakota has more than 4800 bridges.
And they all are regularly inspected.
"They're inspected at least every two years," said Gary Doerr, the head of the bridge management section for the North Dakota Department of Transportation. "The ones in poorer condition are inspected more often."
Doerr says right now, the bridges that need to be in good condition are. Those are the ones on well-traveled roadways, and are on the state system. Doerr says on the county road system…
"There's a high percentage of those considered deficient," said Doerr. "But an awful lot of those bridges have very little or no use. They're used for a rancher to check his cows, or used during hunting season. They're not used for heavy equipment, and they're posted with maximum load restrictions."
Doerr says safety is the main concern.
"If our guys see something they don't believe is safe, they have the ability and the power to close the bridge," said Doerr. "We tell them that if the county can't get there right away, we want them to stay there until the county does. We don't want it closed next week -- we want it closed now."
DOT has 30 bridge inspectors.