County profile · official public datasets

Crow Wing County, MN

73 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.5% rated Good, 50.7% Fair, 6.8% Poor.

73
Public bridges: 42.5%
Good condition: 6.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

68th
of 87 on Poor share: 6.8%
Poor-condition share: 73
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Crow Wing County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Crow Wing County ranks #68 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.8%). Crow Wing County, Minnesota contains 73 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.5% are rated “Good,” 50.7% “Fair,” and 6.8% “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 Crow Wing County

Good condition

42.5%

31 of 73 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.7%

37 of 73 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.8%

5 of 73 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#68 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 73 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.5% (31)

Fair

50.7% (37)

Poor

6.8% (5)

Crow Wing County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,725 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 345 crossings a day against 3,227 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 73 of 73 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.7% of Crow Wing County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 73 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 42.5% 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 75.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 31 over RABBIT LAKE NARROWS, built 1974, carries 1,300 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,725 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

3
1950s

3
1960s

3
1970s

13
1980s

16
1990s

11
2000s

12
2010s

8
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 16 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 (1987) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Crow Wing County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 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 Crow Wing County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Wright County	74	54.1%	43.2%	2.7%	1988
Crow Wing County (this page)	73	42.5%	50.7%	6.8%	1987
Le Sueur County	68	45.6%	50%	4.4%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (73 bridges here).

Stone County, AR · 73 bridges
Levy County, FL · 73 bridges
Putnam County, FL · 73 bridges
Dade County, GA · 73 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Dane County, WI · avg 1987 · 590 bridges

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

All 73 Good 31 Fair 37 Poor 5

All bridges (73)

Sort:

Crow Wing County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Crow Wing County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,725 vehicle crossings a day

24.7% of Crow Wing County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Crow Wing 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 (73)

T 262

MN 371

MN 371

CR 121

CSAH 11

MN 25

T 261

T 604

CSAH 36

M 24

CSAH 21

MN 371

CSAH 2

M 9

CSAH 16

T 969

UT 383

MN 6

T 1331

M 45

CSAH 31

T 537

CR 136

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