County profile · official public datasets

Douglas County, MN

40 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45% rated Good, 47.5% Fair, 7.5% Poor.

40
Public bridges: 45%
Good condition: 7.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Douglas County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

75th
of 87 on Poor share: 7.5%
Poor-condition share: 40
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.

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Douglas County ranks #75 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.5%). Douglas County, Minnesota contains 40 public highway bridges. Roughly 45% are rated “Good,” 47.5% “Fair,” and 7.5% “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 Douglas County

Good condition

45%

18 of 40 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.5%

19 of 40 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.5%

3 of 40 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 40 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45% (18)

Fair

47.5% (19)

Poor

7.5% (3)

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,800 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,267 crossings a day against 3,531 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 40 of 40 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

20 of the 40 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 45% 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 51.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 94 over CSAH 23, built 1965, carries 9,700 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,800 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1960s

20
1970s

3
1980s

5
1990s

4
2000s

3
2010s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 50% 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 Douglas County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Douglas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Douglas County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pope County	47	87.2%	10.6%	2.1%	1987
Hubbard County	45	55.6%	42.2%	2.2%	1990
Stevens County	44	65.9%	29.5%	4.5%	1982
Mahnomen County	40	67.5%	27.5%	5%	1987
Douglas County (this page)	40	45%	47.5%	7.5%	1981
Isanti County	37	51.4%	43.2%	5.4%	1997

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (40 bridges here).

Taliaferro County, GA · 40 bridges
Clark County, ID · 40 bridges
St. John the Baptist County, LA · 40 bridges
Dare County, NC · 40 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.

All 40 Good 18 Fair 19 Poor 3

All bridges (40)

Sort:

Douglas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Douglas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,800 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 51.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Douglas 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 (40)

CSAH 15

T 600

CSAH 17

CSAH 5

MN 27

CSAH 11

CSAH 3

I 94

I 94

CSAH 7

CSAH 1

CSAH 8

CSAH 2

I 94

MN 27

CSAH 22

MN 29

I 94

I 94

T 97

MN 29

CSAH 25

T 72

T 229

T 221

CR 65

I 94

I 94

CSAH 42

CSAH 14

CSAH 3

T 233

CSAH 3

CSAH 82

I 94

I 94

I 94

I 94

I 94

T 495

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