Total bridges
68
Public highway bridges in Baraga County
County profile · official public datasets
Baraga County, MI
68 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 61.8% rated Good, 30.9% Fair, 7.4% Poor.
- 68
- Public bridges
- 61.8%
- Good condition
- 7.4%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Baraga 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 33%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 7.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 68
- public highway bridges
- 1988
- 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.
Baraga County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Baraga County ranks #27 of 83 Michigan counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.4%). Baraga County, Michigan contains 68 public highway bridges. Roughly 61.8% are rated “Good,” 30.9% “Fair,” and 7.4% “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
61.8%
42 of 68 rated 7-9
Fair condition
30.9%
21 of 68 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.4%
5 of 68 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#27 of 83
Among Michigan counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 68 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 61.8% (42)
Fair 30.9% (21)
Poor 7.4% (5)
Baraga County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,652 vehicle crossings a day
That is 15% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,930 crossings a day against 528 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 68 of 68 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
26.5% of Baraga County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
18 of the 68 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 61.8% 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 53.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US-41 over BAYOU & BLK WATER CREEK, built 1933, carries 5,182 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 9,652 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Baraga County's bridges were built
68 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 4
1950–1959
4 bridges
- 1960s 3
1960–1969
3 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s 6
1980–1989
6 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
11 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
16 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
12 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 12 years newer than the Michigan average of 1976.
How Baraga County compares with Michigan's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Michigan counties nearest Baraga County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 10 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 82 Michigan counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry County | 69 | 26.1% | 49.3% | 24.6% | 1977 |
| Baraga County (this page) | 68 | 61.8% | 30.9% | 7.4% | 1988 |
| Mason County | 66 | 39.4% | 53% | 7.6% | 1977 |
| Newaygo County | 65 | 43.1% | 46.2% | 10.8% | 1979 |
| Ontonagon County | 64 | 37.5% | 46.9% | 15.6% | 1970 |
| Wexford County | 64 | 26.6% | 67.2% | 6.3% | 1986 |
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 Baraga 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 Baraga County, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MI (68 bridges here).
- Bent County, CO · 68 bridges
- Columbia County, GA · 68 bridges
- Talbot County, GA · 68 bridges
- Wilcox County, GA · 68 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MI (1988 here).
- Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
- Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
- Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
- Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (21)
BAYSHORE DRIVE
FairOver: KELSEY CREEK
BARAGA TWP SEC 27, Baraga, MI
Built 2016 Load: 20.4 t ADT: 10
US-41
FairOver: LITTLE CARP RIVER
2.0 MI N OF ASSININS, Baraga, MI
Built 1937 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 3,883
KERANEN ROAD
FairOver: DAULTS CREEK
IN HERMAN, Baraga, MI
Built 1987 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 124
US-41
FairOver: LAKE RUTH
4.8 MI W OF MARQUETTE COL, Baraga, MI
Built 1939 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 2,625
FOREST ROAD 2200
FairOver: STURGEON RIVER
4.5 MI NE OF SIDNAW, Baraga, MI
Built 1949 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 50
US-41
FairOver: WCL RR
8.1 MI W OF MARQUETTE COL, Baraga, MI
Built 1940 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 2,624
ARNHEIM ROAD
FairOver: STURGEON RIVER
14 MI N OF BARAGA, Baraga, MI
Built 1976 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 194
PELKIE ROAD
FairOver: WEST BRANCH STURGEON RIV
8 MI W OF BARAGA, Baraga, MI
Built 1969 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 962
US-141
FairOver: TRACY CREEK
1.5 MI N OF IRON CO LINE, Baraga, MI
Built 1960 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 1,046
US-41
FairOver: PELKIE CREEK
5.5 MI W OF NESTORIA, Baraga, MI
Built 1947 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 2,624
BEAUFORT LAKE ROAD
FairOver: SPURR RIVER
2.5 MI W OF MICHIGAMMEE, Baraga, MI
Built 1990 Load: 35.1 t ADT: 88
US-141 M 28
FairOver: ROCK RIVER
3.0 MI NE OF COVINGTON, Baraga, MI
Built 1955 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 2,145
SKANEE ROAD
FairOver: SILVER RIVER
7 MI NE OF LANSE, Baraga, MI
Built 1999 Load: 41.6 t ADT: 1,060
US-41
FairOver: TIOGA RIVER BURIED
3.5 MI W OF NESTORIA, Baraga, MI
Built 1947 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 2,624
FROBERG ROAD
FairOver: STURGEON RIVER
7.5 MI NW OF BARAGA, Baraga, MI
Built 1978 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 105
KYRO ROAD
FairOver: STURGEON RIVER
6 MI W OF BARAGA, Baraga, MI
Built 1988 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 176
M-38
FairOver: STURGEON RIVER
6.6 MI W OF BARAGA, Baraga, MI
Built 1956 Load: 49.2 t ADT: 2,977
US-41
FairOver: FALLS RIVER
IN LANSE, Baraga, MI
Built 1960 Load: 50.9 t ADT: 8,034
SKANEE ROAD
FairOver: SLATE RIVER
10 MI NE OF LANSE, Baraga, MI
Built 1994 Load: 61.5 t ADT: 1,036
SAARINEN ROAD
FairOver: BLACK CREEK
0.25 MI N OF WATTON, Baraga, MI
Built 1995 Load: 62.9 t ADT: 80
LOWER SKANEE ROAD
FairOver: GULSKOOG CREEK
5.5 MI NE OF SKANEE, Baraga, MI
Built 1994 Load: 97.2 t ADT: 59
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.