County profile · official public datasets

Freeborn County, MN

142 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.7% rated Good, 46.5% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

142
Public bridges: 50.7%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 142
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.

Freeborn County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Freeborn County ranks #31 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Freeborn County, Minnesota contains 142 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.7% are rated “Good,” 46.5% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

142

Public highway bridges in Freeborn County

Good condition

50.7%

72 of 142 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.5%

66 of 142 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

4 of 142 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 142 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.7% (72)

Fair

46.5% (66)

Poor

2.8% (4)

Freeborn County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,493 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 873 crossings a day against 1,273 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 142 of 142 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.4% of Freeborn County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

73 of the 142 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 50.7% 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 89.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 109 over I 90, built 1970, carries 3,126 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 3,493 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

2
1940s

4
1950s

5
1960s

28
1970s

47
1980s

9
1990s

6
2000s

20
2010s

19
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Freeborn County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Freeborn County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carlton County	147	51.7%	39.5%	8.8%	1986
Wabasha County	147	60.5%	39.5%	0%	1985
Rice County	142	40.8%	56.3%	2.8%	1986
Roseau County	142	69.7%	27.5%	2.8%	1989
Freeborn County (this page)	142	50.7%	46.5%	2.8%	1981
Renville County	141	66%	24.1%	9.9%	1991

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (142 bridges here).

Monroe County, AL · 142 bridges
Henderson County, IL · 142 bridges
Graham County, KS · 142 bridges
Kenton County, KY · 142 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 142 Good 72 Fair 66 Poor 4

All bridges (142)

Sort:

Freeborn County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Freeborn County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,493 vehicle crossings a day

51.4% of Freeborn County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 89.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Freeborn 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 (142)

T 137

T 281

T 266

CR 92

MSAS 134

CSAH 25

CSAH 26

CSAH 5

CSAH 9

CR 70

CR 67

CR 61

T 43

T 9

T 201

CSAH 4

T 302

T 26

CSAH 20

CSAH 18

T 63

CR 72

CSAH 17

CSAH 25

CR 79

CSAH 4

CSAH 30

CSAH 15

CSAH 19

MSAS 111

CSAH 1

CSAH 1

CSAH 30

CR 104

US 65

US 65

MN 13

CSAH 34

CR 70

CR 60

MN 109

T 343

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