County profile · official public datasets

Lincoln County, MN

106 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.7% rated Good, 38.7% Fair, 6.6% Poor.

106
Public bridges: 54.7%
Good condition: 6.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lincoln 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.

65th
of 87 on Poor share: 6.6%
Poor-condition share: 106
public highway bridges: 1981
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.

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lincoln County ranks #65 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.6%). Lincoln County, Minnesota contains 106 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.7% are rated “Good,” 38.7% “Fair,” and 6.6% “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

106

Public highway bridges in Lincoln County

Good condition

54.7%

58 of 106 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.7%

41 of 106 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.6%

7 of 106 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#65 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 106 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.7% (58)

Fair

38.7% (41)

Poor

6.6% (7)

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,892 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 270 crossings a day against 239 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 106 of 106 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.1% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 106 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 54.7% 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 81.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 14 over STREAM, built 1932, carries 1,544 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 1,892 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

13
1930s

5
1940s

2
1950s

7
1960s

4
1970s

10
1980s

19
1990s

5
2000s

10
2010s

23
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Lincoln County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lincoln County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	112	42.9%	52.7%	4.5%	1990
Brown County	108	60.2%	38%	1.9%	1982
Mille Lacs County	107	55.1%	37.4%	7.5%	1986
Lincoln County (this page)	106	54.7%	38.7%	6.6%	1981
Sibley County	102	61.8%	37.3%	1%	1994
Beltrami County	101	63.4%	33.7%	3%	1989

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (106 bridges here).

Ashley County, AR · 106 bridges
Baca County, CO · 106 bridges
Warren County, KY · 106 bridges
Quitman County, MS · 106 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1981 here).

Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges

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

All 106 Good 58 Fair 41 Poor 7

All bridges (106)

Sort:

Lincoln County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lincoln County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,892 vehicle crossings a day

32.1% of Lincoln County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 81.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lincoln 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 (106)

T 80

CSAH 5

CR 101

CSAH 17

CSAH 20

T 75

CSAH 1

T 113

CR 127

CSAH 7

T 32

CR 115

T 69

CSAH 1

T 132

CSAH 9

CSAH 8

CSAH 12

CR 126

US 14

US 14

MN 68

MN 68

US 75

US 75

US 75

MN 19

MN 19

MN 19

MN 68

MN 68

CSAH 19

CSAH 18

CSAH 5

CSAH 5

T 133

T 22

T 80

T 43

US 14

CSAH 17

CR 116

CSAH 18

T 123

MN 68

MN 68

T 138

T 150

T 40

CSAH 1

Related