Total bridges
62
Public highway bridges in Lake of the Woods County
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.
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.
When Lake of the Woods County's bridges were built
62 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
6 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
10 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
15 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
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.
| 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.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
UT 335
PoorOver: CHRISTY CREEK
1.2 MI NE OF JCT CSAH 1, Lake of the Woods, MN
Built 1954 Load: 4.9 t ADT: 20
UT 335
PoorOver: CHRISTY CREEK
0.7 MI N OF JCT CSAH 1, Lake of the Woods, MN
Built 1953 Load: 13.1 t ADT: 20
CSAH 14
PoorOver: WINTER ROAD RIVER
1.0 MI N OF JCT CSAH 3, Lake of the Woods, MN
Built 1982 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 105
CSAH 1
PoorOver: S BR RAPID RIVER
0.5 MI N OF JCT CR 86, Lake of the Woods, MN
Built 1960 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 125
MN 11
PoorOver: SILVER CREEK
3.0 MI W OF CLEMENTSON, Lake of the Woods, MN
Built 1985 Load: 35.1 t ADT: 820
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.