Highway Department
Morton County maintains its road, sign and bridge infrastructure with 29 employees working out of 4 maintenance shops. The eastern shop and headquarters is located in Mandan. This shop is staffed by the County Engineer, Road Superintendent, GIS Coordinator, 2 Engineering Technicians, Mechanic, 2 Secretaries, Sign man and 8 Equipment Operators. The western shop is located in Glen Ullin and is staffed by an Area Foreman and 3 Equipment Operators. The control shop is located in New Salem and is staffed by an Area Foreman and 2 Equipment Operators. The southern shop is located in Flasher and is staffed by an Area Foreman and 2 Equipment Operators.
Morton County is the 7th largest county in North Dakota encompassing 1936 square miles. There are six incorporated cities in the County with Mandan being the County Seat. The remaining cities are Hebron, Glen Ullin, New Salem, Almont and Flasher. There are also five unincorporated towns. These towns are Judson, Ft. Rice, Brien and St. Anthony. There are over 100 residential subdivisions in the County with the majority being around Mandan. There are many single residential lots located across the county. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the July 2017 population estimates for Morton County was 30,796.
Morton County encompasses 60 complete and partial townships. Of these 60 townships, only one, Captains Landing is organized and less than a complete section in size. The remaining 59 are all unorganized. Since they are unorganized the County Commission is the governing body for all public issues.
The Highway Department has two commissioners that oversee operations. The goal of the Highway Department is to maintain a safe, well maintained road and bridge system in the most cost effective manner possible.
All policies may be viewed at the Highway Department Office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How close can I put my fence to a county road?
A: It depends on the road. The Planning & Zoning GIS Map has lots of information, including the planned right of way width for every maintained road in Morton County. Follow this link to the map. Zoom into the area of road you're asking about. Be sure the "Roads" layer is checked/activated in the map layer list at the upper right of the map frame. Then click on the road of interest within the map. Sometimes you have turn off other layers in the layer list in order to be able to "reach" the road layer to click it. Once you successfully click on the road, a table will pop up. At the bottom of the table, is a field called "Proposed_ROW". If the Proposed_ROW field says "50" then you can install your fence 50 feet away from the centerline of the road. If it says "60" then you can install your fence 60 feet away from the centerline of the road.
