County profile · official public datasets

Becker County, MN

53 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 79.2% rated Good, 18.9% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

53
Public bridges: 79.2%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Becker County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 53
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

Becker County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Becker County ranks #18 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Becker County, Minnesota contains 53 public highway bridges. Roughly 79.2% are rated “Good,” 18.9% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Becker County

Good condition

79.2%

42 of 53 rated 7-9

Fair condition

18.9%

10 of 53 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

1 of 53 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 87

Among Minnesota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 53 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

79.2% (42)

Fair

18.9% (10)

Poor

1.9% (1)

Becker County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 28 crossings a day against 1,184 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 53 of 53 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

11.3% of Becker County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

6 of the 53 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 79.2% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

T 144 over TOAD RIVER, built 1940, carries 28 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 28 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1940s

3
1950s

1
1970s

6
1980s

3
1990s

5
2000s

23
2010s

9
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 43.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the Minnesota average of 1986.

How Becker County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Becker County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 86 Minnesota counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Becker County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Red Lake County	59	67.8%	30.5%	1.7%	1985
Cook County	58	55.2%	39.7%	5.2%	1988
Nicollet County	54	77.8%	22.2%	0%	1995
Becker County (this page)	53	79.2%	18.9%	1.9%	1995
Clearwater County	50	50%	50%	0%	1981
Pennington County	49	75.5%	22.4%	2%	1985

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 Becker 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 Becker County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (53 bridges here).

Cleburne County, AR · 53 bridges
Citrus County, FL · 53 bridges
Lumpkin County, GA · 53 bridges
Stewart County, GA · 53 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges

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

All 53 Good 42 Fair 10 Poor 1

All bridges (53)

Sort:

T 397

Fair

Over: S BR WILD RICE RIVER

0.5 MI E OF JCT CSAH 7, Becker, MN

Built 2000 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 25

MN 87

Fair

Over: KETTLE CREEK

6.0 MI W OF MENAHGA, Becker, MN

Built 1936 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 891

MN 34

Fair

Over: OTTER TAIL RIVER

6.9 MI E OF DETROIT LAKE, Becker, MN

Built 1940 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 5,025

MN 87

Fair

Over: US 10

AT THE JCT TH 87(FRAZEE), Becker, MN

Built 1976 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 2,666

MSAS 128

Fair

Over: DEAD SHOT BAY

0.9 MI SE OF JCT CSAH 22, Becker, MN

Built 1976 Load: 31.9 t ADT: 1,650

US 59

Fair

Over: BNSF RR AND CP RAIL LINE

0.1 MI N OF JCT US 10, Becker, MN

Built 2007 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 13,966

US 10

Fair

Over: ROOSEVELT AVE (MSAS 110)

1.0 MI SE JCT US 59, Becker, MN

Built 2007 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 14,312

T 676

Fair

Over: BUFFALO RIVER

1.0 MI N OF JCT CSAH 12, Becker, MN

Built 1978 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 12

T 300

Fair

Over: OTTER TAIL RIVER

1.4 MI NE OF JCT CSAH 29, Becker, MN

Built 1981 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 8

CSAH 9

Fair

Over: BUFFALO RIVER

1.6 MI N OF JCT CSAH 12, Becker, MN

Becker County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Becker County's Poor-condition bridges carry 28 vehicle crossings a day

11.3% of Becker County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Becker County compares with Minnesota'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 (53)

T 397

MN 87

MN 34

MN 87

MSAS 128

US 59

US 10

T 676

T 300

CSAH 9

T 50

MN 87

MN 87

US 10

T 486

CR 125

T 757

M 28

MSAS 116

T 411

MN 87

CSAH 7

US 59

T 405

CSAH 10

CSAH 22

CR 119

CSAH 16

CR 105

CSAH 7

MSAS 120

T 396

T 409

T 407

CSAH 50

CR 123

CSAH 14

T 1567

CR 157

CSAH 42

T 309

T 165

CR 126

CSAH 35

CSAH 7

M 106

CSAH 12

T 410

CR 125

US 10

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