County profile · official public datasets

Marshall County, MN

215 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 72.1% rated Good, 26.5% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

215
Public bridges: 72.1%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Marshall County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 215
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.

Marshall County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Marshall County ranks #10 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Marshall County, Minnesota contains 215 public highway bridges. Roughly 72.1% are rated “Good,” 26.5% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

215

Public highway bridges in Marshall County

Good condition

72.1%

155 of 215 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.5%

57 of 215 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

3 of 215 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 215 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

72.1% (155)

Fair

26.5% (57)

Poor

1.4% (3)

Marshall County's Poor-condition bridges carry 416 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 139 crossings a day against 189 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 214 of 215 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

15.8% of Marshall County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 215 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 72.1% 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 90.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 4 over MIDDLE RIVER, built 1962, carries 375 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 416 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

10
1950s

2
1960s

13
1970s

35
1980s

53
1990s

43
2000s

36
2010s

18
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% 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 Marshall County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Marshall County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Marshall County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Stearns County	229	54.6%	42.8%	2.6%	1981
Faribault County	226	50.9%	44.7%	4.4%	1986
Clay County	225	53.8%	40.4%	5.8%	1984
Yellow Medicine County	218	67.4%	29.8%	2.8%	1984
Marshall County (this page)	215	72.1%	26.5%	1.4%	1988
Redwood County	200	53%	36.5%	10.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (215 bridges here).

Lawrence County, AL · 215 bridges
Idaho County, ID · 215 bridges
Terrebonne County, LA · 215 bridges
Washington County, OK · 215 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 215 Good 155 Fair 57 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (155)

Sort:

Marshall County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Marshall County's Poor-condition bridges carry 416 vehicle crossings a day

15.8% of Marshall County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 90.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Marshall 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 (155)

CSAH 54

T 237

CSAH 15

T 1

T 38

CSAH 30

CSAH 15

US 75

MN 1

MN 89

MN 89

CR 118

T 214

CR 101

T 203

T 228

T 218

T 207

T 156

T 89

T 489

T 480

T 152

CR 131

T 238

MN 220

CSAH 22

CR 109

CR 115

CR 100

CR 114

CSAH 7

CSAH 5

CR 144

CSAH 4

CSAH 17

US 75

CSAH 12

T 291

T 198

T 1

T 577

T 181

T 395

T 353

CSAH 34

T 163

CSAH 34

CSAH 6

CSAH 19

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