County profile · official public datasets

Koochiching County, MN

98 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.1% rated Good, 38.8% Fair, 7.1% Poor.

98
Public bridges: 54.1%
Good condition: 7.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

70th
of 87 on Poor share: 7.1%
Poor-condition share: 98
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.

Koochiching County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Koochiching County ranks #70 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.1%). Koochiching County, Minnesota contains 98 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.1% are rated “Good,” 38.8% “Fair,” and 7.1% “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 Koochiching County

Good condition

54.1%

53 of 98 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.8%

38 of 98 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.1%

7 of 98 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#70 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 98 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.1% (53)

Fair

38.8% (38)

Poor

7.1% (7)

Koochiching County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,423 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 346 crossings a day against 241 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 98 of 98 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

16.3% of Koochiching County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

16 of the 98 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 54.1% 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 60.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 71 over LITTLE FORK RIVER, built 1980, carries 1,458 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,423 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

2
1960s

7
1970s

20
1980s

28
1990s

11
2000s

11
2010s

11
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.6% 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 Koochiching County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Koochiching County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Koochiching County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sibley County	102	61.8%	37.3%	1%	1994
Beltrami County	101	63.4%	33.7%	3%	1989
Koochiching County (this page)	98	54.1%	38.8%	7.1%	1987
Swift County	97	75.3%	23.7%	1%	1993
Aitkin County	96	55.2%	36.5%	8.3%	1985
Kandiyohi County	94	48.9%	43.6%	7.4%	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 Koochiching 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 Koochiching County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (98 bridges here).

Boone County, AR · 98 bridges
Van Buren County, AR · 98 bridges
Dougherty County, GA · 98 bridges
Butler County, KY · 98 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 98 Good 53 Fair 38 Poor 7

All bridges (98)

Sort:

Koochiching County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Koochiching County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,423 vehicle crossings a day

16.3% of Koochiching County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 60.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Koochiching 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 (98)

CSAH 30

UT 9

SFR 98

SFR 98

SFR 62

CSAH 6

UT 50

UT 50

CR 52

CR 62

CSAH 3

CR 99

UT 183

CSAH 1

UT 367

MN 11

MN 65

CR 71

CR 72

CR 78

UT 187

CR 14

CR 77

CSAH 5

CR 82

UT 143

CR 78

SFR 97

CR 53

MN 11

CR 77

CSAH 18

SFR 62

UT 198

CR 57

MN 11

CSAH 24

CSAH 15

MN 11

CSAH 29

IRR BIA RTE 8

UT 383

CR 145

CR 61

US 53

CSAH 98

CR 101

US 71

Related