Total bridges
151
Public highway bridges in Cottonwood County
County profile · official public datasets
Cottonwood County, MN
151 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 74.8% rated Good, 23.8% Fair, 1.3% Poor.
- 151
- Public bridges
- 74.8%
- Good condition
- 1.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Cottonwood County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 9%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 1.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 151
- 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.
Cottonwood County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cottonwood County ranks #8 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Cottonwood County, Minnesota contains 151 public highway bridges. Roughly 74.8% are rated “Good,” 23.8% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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.
Good condition
74.8%
113 of 151 rated 7-9
Fair condition
23.8%
36 of 151 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.3%
2 of 151 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#8 of 87
Among Minnesota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 151 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 74.8% (113)
Fair 23.8% (36)
Poor 1.3% (2)
Cottonwood County's Poor-condition bridges carry 438 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 219 crossings a day against 178 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 151 of 151 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
31.1% of Cottonwood County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
47 of the 151 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 74.8% 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 94.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
CSAH 15 over DES MOINES RIVER, built 1960, carries 415 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 438 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Cottonwood County's bridges were built
151 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 2
1920–1929
2 bridges
- 1930s 9
1930–1939
9 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 6
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
16 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
26 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
33 bridges
- 1990s 11
1990–1999
11 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
19 bridges
- 2010s 13
2010–2019
13 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.
How Cottonwood County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Cottonwood County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 86 Minnesota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anoka County | 151 | 55% | 40.4% | 4.6% | 1990 |
| Cottonwood County (this page) | 151 | 74.8% | 23.8% | 1.3% | 1981 |
| Norman County | 149 | 75.2% | 21.5% | 3.4% | 1983 |
| Otter Tail County | 149 | 40.9% | 52.3% | 6.7% | 1980 |
| Carlton County | 147 | 51.7% | 39.5% | 8.8% | 1986 |
| Wabasha County | 147 | 60.5% | 39.5% | 0% | 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MN (151 bridges here).
- Randolph County, AR · 151 bridges
- Pasco County, FL · 151 bridges
- St. Lucie County, FL · 151 bridges
- Hall County, GA · 151 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 (36)
T 1019
FairOver: PELL CREEK
0.6 MI S OF CO LINE, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1913 Load: 15.5 t ADT: 21
T 124
FairOver: N FK WATONWAN RIVER
2.2 MI N OF JCT TH 30, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1975 Load: 18.3 t ADT: 21
CSAH 9
FairOver: WATONWAN RIVER
0.2 MI S OF JCT CSAH 9, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1933 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 156
T 62
FairOver: STREAM
1.7 MI S OF JCT TH 30, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1914 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 21
CSAH 4
FairOver: DRY CREEK
1.4 MI N OF JCT CSAH 10, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1949 Load: 20.2 t ADT: 110
CSAH 4
FairOver: STREAM
0.8 MI N OF JCT CSAH 10, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1954 Load: 20.7 t ADT: 110
CR 47
FairOver: DITCH
2.3 MI S OF JCT TH 60, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1908 Load: 21.2 t ADT: 33
CSAH 5
FairOver: STREAM
0.4 MI N OF JCT CSAH 15, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1958 Load: 22.2 t ADT: 610
T 125
FairOver: WATONWAN RIVER
0.4 MI N OF JCT CSAH 9, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1940 Load: 25.5 t ADT: 60
CSAH 10
FairOver: DUTCH CHARLEY CREEK
1.7 MI E OF JCT CSAH 6, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1930 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 410
CSAH 8
FairOver: N FK WATONWAN RIVER
1.9 MI N OF JCT TH 30, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1964 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 143
CSAH 10
FairOver: COTTONWOOD RIVER
1.1 MI E OF JCT CSAH 2, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1958 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 265
CSAH 29
FairOver: WATONWAN RIVER
0.9 MI S OF JCT CSAH 3, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1939 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 156
T 147
FairOver: DRY CREEK
0.8 MI N OF JCT CSAH 10, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1925 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 30
MN 60
FairOver: UP RR
9.3 MI E OF JCT US 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1987 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 3,684
US 71
FairOver: STREAM
3.6 MI S OF SANBORN, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1936 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,606
US 71
FairOver: MOUND CREEK
4.9 MI S OF SANBORN, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1936 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,606
US 71
FairOver: LITTLE COTTONWOOD RIVER
13.2 MI N OF WINDOM, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1936 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,606
US 71
FairOver: STREAM
9.0 MI N OF WINDOM, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1936 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,895
MN 30
FairOver: STREAM
1.6 MI NE OF STORDEN, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1948 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 751
US 71
FairOver: STREAM
4.1 MI S OF SANBORN, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1960 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,606
US 71
FairOver: STREAM
6.3 MI S OF SANBORN, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1960 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,606
MN 60
FairOver: UP RR
9.3 MI E OF JCT US 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1987 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 3,684
CSAH 5
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
0.9 MI S OF JCT TH 62, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1951 Load: 30.2 t ADT: 1,107
CSAH 13
FairOver: PERKINS CREEK
1.0 MI W OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1962 Load: 30.7 t ADT: 2,075
CSAH 13
FairOver: S FK WATONWAN RIVER
0.4 MI W OF CO LINE, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1959 Load: 31.0 t ADT: 263
MN 62
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
10.0 MI W OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1978 Load: 32.3 t ADT: 736
CSAH 2
FairOver: LITTLE COTTONWOOD RIVER
2.1 MI N OF JCT TH 30, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1967 Load: 32.5 t ADT: 315
CR 99
FairOver: STREAM
2.1 MI S OF JCT TH 30, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1958 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 63
MN 62
FairOver: HERON LAKE OUTLET
8.0 MI W OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1978 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 736
M 76
FairOver: PERKINS CREEK
0.4 MI S OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1964 Load: 34.6 t ADT: 200
MN 60
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
0.3 MI S OF JCT TH 62; 60, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1971 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 12,514
MN 62
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
12.8 MI W OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1978 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 736
T 124
FairOver: WATONWAN RIVER
1.0 MI N OF JCT CSAH 3, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1973 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 20
T 135
FairOver: WATONWAN RIVER
0.6 MI N OF JCT CSAH 3, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1962 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 50
MN 62
FairOver: DES MOINES RIVER
0.2 MI W OF JCT TH 71, Cottonwood, MN
Built 1974 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 2,533
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.