County profile · official public datasets

Cass County, MN

85 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.1% rated Good, 48.2% Fair, 4.7% Poor.

85
Public bridges: 47.1%
Good condition: 4.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cass County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

54th
of 87 on Poor share: 4.7%
Poor-condition share: 85
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Cass County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cass County ranks #54 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Cass County, Minnesota contains 85 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.1% are rated “Good,” 48.2% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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 Cass County

Good condition

47.1%

40 of 85 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.2%

41 of 85 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.7%

4 of 85 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 85 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.1% (40)

Fair

48.2% (41)

Poor

4.7% (4)

Cass County's Poor-condition bridges carry 200 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 50 crossings a day against 951 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 85 of 85 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.9% of Cass County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

28 of the 85 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 47.1% 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 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 133 over WILLOW RIVER, built 1957, carries 90 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 200 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1930s

3
1950s

8
1960s

14
1970s

3
1980s

11
1990s

20
2000s

7
2010s

15
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 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 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Cass County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cass County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lake County	90	51.1%	36.7%	12.2%	1984
Cass County (this page)	85	47.1%	48.2%	4.7%	1985
Waseca County	83	28.9%	62.7%	8.4%	1983
Kanabec County	82	58.5%	37.8%	3.7%	1985
McLeod County	77	50.6%	45.5%	3.9%	1990
Wadena County	77	79.2%	16.9%	3.9%	1993

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (85 bridges here).

Monroe County, AR · 85 bridges
Elbert County, CO · 85 bridges
Hardee County, FL · 85 bridges
Early County, GA · 85 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 85 Good 40 Fair 41 Poor 4

All bridges (85)

Sort:

Cass County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cass County's Poor-condition bridges carry 200 vehicle crossings a day

32.9% of Cass County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cass 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 (85)

M 58

CSAH 53

T 188

T 168

CR 161

FR2135

CR 105

T 184

CR 103

T 75

CSAH 36

MN 200

MN 371

MN 210

MN 210

T 189

CSAH 1

CSAH 8

T 243

FR2266

MN 84

CSAH 65

CSAH 65

MN 371

FR2319

CSAH 3

CSAH 78

CSAH 77

CSAH 7

MN 371

US 2

MN 371

MN 371

CSAH 65

CSAH 54

CSAH 50

CSAH 8

US 2

MN 210

MN 210

FR2101

CSAH 5

2131

T 4135

CSAH 33

T 325

MN 200

CSAH 1

CSAH 1

CR 107

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