County profile · official public datasets

Grant County, MN

31 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.1% rated Good, 29% Fair, 12.9% Poor.

31
Public bridges: 58.1%
Good condition: 12.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Grant 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.

87th
of 87 on Poor share: 12.9%
Poor-condition share: 31
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Grant County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Grant County ranks #87 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.9%). Grant County, Minnesota contains 31 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.1% are rated “Good,” 29% “Fair,” and 12.9% “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 Grant County

Good condition

58.1%

18 of 31 rated 7-9

Fair condition

29%

9 of 31 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.9%

4 of 31 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#87 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 31 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.1% (18)

Fair

29% (9)

Poor

12.9% (4)

Grant County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,677 vehicle crossings a day

That is 57.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,919 crossings a day against 198 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 31 of 31 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

45.2% of Grant County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

14 of the 31 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 58.1% 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 97.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 94 over PELICAN CREEK, built 1963, carries 15,302 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 15,677 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

1
1950s

3
1960s

7
1970s

5
1980s

3
1990s

2
2000s

4
2010s

1
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 7 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1980, 6 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Grant County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Grant County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hubbard County	45	55.6%	42.2%	2.2%	1990
Stevens County	44	65.9%	29.5%	4.5%	1982
Douglas County	40	45%	47.5%	7.5%	1981
Mahnomen County	40	67.5%	27.5%	5%	1987
Isanti County	37	51.4%	43.2%	5.4%	1997
Grant County (this page)	31	58.1%	29%	12.9%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (31 bridges here).

Hinsdale County, CO · 31 bridges
Kiowa County, CO · 31 bridges
Ogemaw County, MI · 31 bridges
Carson City County, NV · 31 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 31 Good 18 Fair 9 Poor 4

All bridges (31)

Sort:

CR 47

Fair

Over: POMME DE TERRE RIVER

0.9 MI E OF JCT CSAH 21, Grant, MN

Built 1957 Load: 18.4 t ADT: 20

MN 27

Fair

Over: POMME DE TERRE RIVER

3.1 MI W OF JCT TH 55, Grant, MN

Built 1982 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 1,683

MN 79

Fair

Over: POMME DE TERRE RIVER

4.0 MI E OF ELBOW LAKE, Grant, MN

Built 1932 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 2,248

CR 67

Fair

Over: MUSTINKA RIVER

0.5 MI N OF JCT CR 31, Grant, MN

Built 1955 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 20

MN 27

Fair

Over: CHIPPEWA RIVER

0.7 MI E OF HOFFMAN, Grant, MN

Built 1989 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 2,652

CSAH 19

Fair

Over: I 94

3.4 MI SE OF JCT TH 78, Grant, MN

Built 1963 Load: 30.2 t ADT: 105

CSAH 4

Fair

Over: I 94

3.0 MI NW OF JCT TH 78, Grant, MN

Built 1963 Load: 30.4 t ADT: 295

MN 78

Fair

Over: I 94

AT JCT TH 78, Grant, MN

Built 1963 Load: 31.0 t ADT: 1,050

T 134

Fair

Over: POMME DE TERRE RIVER

0.5 MI E OF JCT CSAH 21, Grant, MN

Grant County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Grant County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,677 vehicle crossings a day

45.2% of Grant County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 97.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Grant 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 (31)

CR 47

MN 27

MN 79

CR 67

MN 27

CSAH 19

CSAH 4

MN 78

T 134

CSAH 1

T 98

MN 55

CR 37

CR 37

T 166

T 185

T 164

T 5

T 180

T 179

T 336

MN 9

T 148

T 92

CSAH 2

CR 40

MN 55

CSAH 2

CR 52

CR 38

I 94

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