Total bridges
50
Public highway bridges in Clearwater County
County profile · official public datasets
Clearwater County, MN
50 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50% rated Good, 50% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 50
- Public bridges
- 50%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Clearwater County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 3%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 0%
- Poor-condition share
- 50
- public highway bridges
- 1981
- 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.
Clearwater County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clearwater County ranks #3 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Clearwater County, Minnesota contains 50 public highway bridges. Roughly 50% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 0% “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
50%
25 of 50 rated 7-9
Fair condition
50%
25 of 50 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 50 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#3 of 87
Among Minnesota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 50 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 50% (25)
Fair 50% (25)
Poor 0% (0)
38% of Clearwater County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
19 of the 50 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 50% 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.
When Clearwater County's bridges were built
50 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
11 bridges
- 1970s 3
1970–1979
3 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
7 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
5 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
9 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.
How Clearwater County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Clearwater County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1991 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 86 Minnesota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicollet County | 54 | 77.8% | 22.2% | 0% | 1995 |
| Becker County | 53 | 79.2% | 18.9% | 1.9% | 1995 |
| Clearwater County (this page) | 50 | 50% | 50% | 0% | 1981 |
| Pennington County | 49 | 75.5% | 22.4% | 2% | 1985 |
| Pope County | 47 | 87.2% | 10.6% | 2.1% | 1987 |
| Sherburne County | 47 | 57.4% | 40.4% | 2.1% | 1992 |
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 Clearwater 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 Clearwater County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MN (50 bridges here).
- Oglethorpe County, GA · 50 bridges
- Randolph County, GA · 50 bridges
- Putnam County, IL · 50 bridges
- Simpson County, KY · 50 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (25)
CSAH 15
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
1.0 MI S OF JCT CSAH 11, Clearwater, MN
Built 1927 Load: 11.3 t ADT: 55
CSAH 6
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
0.8 MI W OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN
Built 1927 Load: 14.7 t ADT: 570
CSAH 32
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.5 MI E OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN
Built 1929 Load: 16.7 t ADT: 96
IRR BIA RTE 3
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
RES BOUNDARY 2M NE BERNER, Clearwater, MN
Built 1964 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 150
CSAH 4
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER (DAM)
1.8 MI S OF JCT CSAH 11, Clearwater, MN
Built 1931 Load: 18.6 t ADT: 275
CSAH 7
FairOver: WILD RICE RIVER
1.0 MI N OF JCT CSAH 35, Clearwater, MN
Built 1975 Load: 20.1 t ADT: 720
CSAH 2
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.1 MI S OF JCT CSAH 1, Clearwater, MN
Built 1989 Load: 23.4 t ADT: 405
CSAH 7
FairOver: LOST RIVER
0.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 48, Clearwater, MN
Built 1959 Load: 24.1 t ADT: 245
CSAH 23
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.6 MI N OF JCT CSAH 21, Clearwater, MN
Built 1967 Load: 26.5 t ADT: 692
MN 92
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
2.0 MI E OF GONVICK, Clearwater, MN
Built 1930 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,350
MN 92
FairOver: WILD RICE RIVER
2.8 MI N OF JCT TH 200, Clearwater, MN
Built 1977 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,125
CSAH 40
FairOver: MISSISSIPPI RIVER
0.7 MI E OF JCT CSAH 2, Clearwater, MN
Built 1982 Load: 33.4 t ADT: 300
CSAH 11
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
1.3 MI W OF JCT CSAH 15, Clearwater, MN
Built 1963 Load: 33.7 t ADT: 80
CSAH 28
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.7 MI S OF JCT TH 2, Clearwater, MN
Built 1980 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 498
T 118
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
0.8 MI N OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN
Built 2002 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 20
US 2
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.8 MI E OF BAGLEY, Clearwater, MN
Built 1966 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 2,808
MN 1
FairOver: RED LAKE RIVER
4.9 MI S OF N CO LINE, Clearwater, MN
Built 1992 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 230
CSAH 14
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.5 MI N OF JCT CSAH 4, Clearwater, MN
Built 1962 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 130
CR 74
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
0.9 MI W OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN
Built 1960 Load: 39.9 t ADT: 35
US 2
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.8 MI E OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN
Built 1988 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 2,474
SPR 22
FairOver: ELK CREEK
2.8 MI W OF CO LINE, Clearwater, MN
Built 1967 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 20
T 109
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
1.4 MI N OF JCT CSAH 6, Clearwater, MN
Built 1966 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 11
CR 117
FairOver: MISSISSIPPI RIVER
0.1 MI W OF JCT CR 122, Clearwater, MN
Built 2011 Load: 50.8 t ADT: 584
CSAH 35
FairOver: WILD RICE RIVER
0.1 MI W OF JCT CSAH 7, Clearwater, MN
Built 1959 Load: 53.1 t ADT: 600
MN 92
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.5 MI S OF BAGLEY, Clearwater, MN
Built 1942 Load: 73.8 t ADT: 2,750
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.