Total bridges
85
Public highway bridges in Cass County
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.
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.
When Cass County's bridges were built
85 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
14 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s 7
2000–2009
7 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
15 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (4)
CR 133
PoorOver: WILLOW RIVER
3.0 MI S OF JCT TH 200, Cass, MN
Built 1957 Load: 6.5 t ADT: 90
T 82
PoorOver: MAYO CREEK
0.3 MI E OF JCT CSAH 17, Cass, MN
Built 1991 Load: 13.3 t ADT: 10
T 74
PoorOver: MAYO CREEK
0.1 MI W OF E CO LINE, Cass, MN
Built 1985 Load: 22.9 t ADT: 20
CSAH 43
PoorOver: ADA BROOK
0.6 MI S OF JCT CR 118, Cass, MN
Built 1956 Load: 41.2 t ADT: 80
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.