County profile · official public datasets

Kittson County, MN

160 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 71.9% rated Good, 25.6% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

160
Public bridges: 71.9%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kittson County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 29%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 160
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Kittson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kittson County ranks #25 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Kittson County, Minnesota contains 160 public highway bridges. Roughly 71.9% are rated “Good,” 25.6% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

160

Public highway bridges in Kittson County

Good condition

71.9%

115 of 160 rated 7-9

Fair condition

25.6%

41 of 160 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

4 of 160 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 160 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

71.9% (115)

Fair

25.6% (41)

Poor

2.5% (4)

Kittson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,204 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 301 crossings a day against 143 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 160 of 160 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

15.6% of Kittson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

25 of the 160 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 71.9% 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 92.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 11 over DITCH, built 1955, carries 1,114 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 1,204 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

5
1930s

2
1950s

3
1960s

10
1970s

17
1980s

42
1990s

36
2000s

22
2010s

18
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Kittson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kittson County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Watonwan County	167	69.5%	29.9%	0.6%	1978
Morrison County	164	62.2%	33.5%	4.3%	1988
Martin County	162	56.2%	34.6%	9.3%	1975
Kittson County (this page)	160	71.9%	25.6%	2.5%	1988
Anoka County	151	55%	40.4%	4.6%	1990
Cottonwood County	151	74.8%	23.8%	1.3%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (160 bridges here).

Clay County, KY · 160 bridges
Rio Arriba County, NM · 160 bridges
Delaware County, OK · 160 bridges
Warren County, TN · 160 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All 160 Good 115 Fair 41 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (115)

Sort:

Kittson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kittson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,204 vehicle crossings a day

15.6% of Kittson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 92.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kittson 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

Good-condition bridges (115)

T 238

CSAH 7

T 240

T 240

CR 58

CSAH 5

T 294

T 56

CR 56

CSAH 1

US 75

US 59

US 75

US 75

T 215

CSAH 4

CSAH 22

MN 175

CSAH 10

CSAH 23

CSAH 30

CSAH 15

CSAH 20

T 345

CSAH 1

T 112

CSAH 5

T 232

CSAH 17

T 246

CSAH 13

CSAH 23

T 253

T 83

T 196

T 203

T 122

T 223

T 240

T 144

T 345

T 303

CSAH 34

MN 175

US 59

US 75

T 267

CSAH 39

T 68

T 65

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