County profile · official public datasets

Lake of the Woods County, MN

62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 61.3% rated Good, 30.6% Fair, 8.1% Poor.

62
Public bridges: 61.3%
Good condition: 8.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

76th
of 87 on Poor share: 8.1%
Poor-condition share: 62
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Lake of the Woods County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lake of the Woods County ranks #76 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.1%). Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 61.3% are rated “Good,” 30.6% “Fair,” and 8.1% “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 Lake of the Woods County

Good condition

61.3%

38 of 62 rated 7-9

Fair condition

30.6%

19 of 62 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.1%

5 of 62 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#76 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

61.3% (38)

Fair

30.6% (19)

Poor

8.1% (5)

Lake of the Woods County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,090 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 218 crossings a day against 195 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

17.7% of Lake of the Woods County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

11 of the 62 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 61.3% 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 75.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 11 over SILVER CREEK, built 1985, carries 820 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,090 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

2
1950s

3
1960s

6
1970s

5
1980s

10
1990s

15
2000s

15
2010s

3
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

How Lake of the Woods County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Lake of the Woods County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lake of the Woods County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Le Sueur County	68	45.6%	50%	4.4%	1978
Meeker County	63	50.8%	44.4%	4.8%	1982
Lake of the Woods County (this page)	62	61.3%	30.6%	8.1%	1989
Chisago County	61	50.8%	47.5%	1.6%	1986
Red Lake County	59	67.8%	30.5%	1.7%	1985
Cook County	58	55.2%	39.7%	5.2%	1988

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (62 bridges here).

Conejos County, CO · 62 bridges
Pitkin County, CO · 62 bridges
Gulf County, FL · 62 bridges
Pickens County, GA · 62 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges

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

All 62 Good 38 Fair 19 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (38)

Sort:

Lake of the Woods County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lake of the Woods County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,090 vehicle crossings a day

17.7% of Lake of the Woods County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 75.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lake of the Woods 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 (38)

CSAH 4

UT 192

CR 146

UT 335

CSAH 5

CSAH 8

SFR 78

CSAH 17

UT 57

UT 138

CR 67

UT 32

UT 103

UT 47

UT 143

UT 143

UT 53

CSAH 17

UT 143

UT 335

CSAH 1

CSAH 5

SFR 83

CR 69

MN 172

MN 11

SFR 72

CSAH 6

CSAH 35

UT 101

UT 332

UT 201

SFR 82

UT 198

SFR 85

SFR 85

MN 72

UT 332

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