County profile · official public datasets

Beltrami County, MN

101 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 63.4% rated Good, 33.7% Fair, 3% Poor.

101
Public bridges: 63.4%
Good condition: 3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Beltrami County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 41%
lowest Poor share in state: 3%
Poor-condition share: 101
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Beltrami County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Beltrami County ranks #36 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3%). Beltrami County, Minnesota contains 101 public highway bridges. Roughly 63.4% are rated “Good,” 33.7% “Fair,” and 3% “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

101

Public highway bridges in Beltrami County

Good condition

63.4%

64 of 101 rated 7-9

Fair condition

33.7%

34 of 101 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3 of 101 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#36 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 101 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

63.4% (64)

Fair

33.7% (34)

Poor

3% (3)

Beltrami County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,424 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 475 crossings a day against 874 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 101 of 101 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

13.9% of Beltrami County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

14 of the 101 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 63.4% 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 55.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 72 over TAMARAC RIVER, built 1962, carries 792 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,424 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1940s

1
1950s

2
1960s

4
1970s

25
1980s

28
1990s

10
2000s

12
2010s

10
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Beltrami County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Beltrami County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lincoln County	106	54.7%	38.7%	6.6%	1981
Sibley County	102	61.8%	37.3%	1%	1994
Beltrami County (this page)	101	63.4%	33.7%	3%	1989
Koochiching County	98	54.1%	38.8%	7.1%	1987
Swift County	97	75.3%	23.7%	1%	1993
Aitkin County	96	55.2%	36.5%	8.3%	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 Beltrami 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 Beltrami County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (101 bridges here).

Phillips County, AR · 101 bridges
Gilmer County, GA · 101 bridges
Phillips County, MT · 101 bridges
Catron County, NM · 101 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges

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

All 101 Good 64 Fair 34 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Beltrami County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Beltrami County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,424 vehicle crossings a day

13.9% of Beltrami County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 55.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Beltrami 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

Good-condition bridges (64)

2176

FR2171

CSAH 39

CR 103

CSAH 39

CSAH 36

CSAH 36

T 4411

T 40

MN 1

MN 72

MN 72

CSAH 1

CSAH 13

CSAH 41

CR 703

CSAH 23

CR 706

CSAH 23

CSAH 24

CSAH 22

T 209

CR 102

CSAH 5

T 68

T 1051

T 209

T 327

T 497

T 94

T 161

CSAH 22

MN 1

CON 6249

CSAH 8

CR 305

MN 1

US 2

CSAH 6

CSAH 23

T 140

CR 98

CR 102

T 506

T 391

T 73

T 107

CSAH 7

CSAH 11

CSAH 37

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