County profile · official public datasets

McLeod County, MN

77 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.6% rated Good, 45.5% Fair, 3.9% Poor.

77
Public bridges: 50.6%
Good condition: 3.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.9%
Poor-condition share: 77
public highway bridges: 1990
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.

McLeod County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McLeod County ranks #42 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). McLeod County, Minnesota contains 77 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.6% are rated “Good,” 45.5% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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 McLeod County

Good condition

50.6%

39 of 77 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.5%

35 of 77 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.9%

3 of 77 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 77 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.6% (39)

Fair

45.5% (35)

Poor

3.9% (3)

McLeod County's Poor-condition bridges carry 669 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 223 crossings a day against 1,140 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 77 of 77 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

16.9% of McLeod County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

13 of the 77 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 50.6% 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 56.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 13 over HIGH ISLAND CREEK, built 1964, carries 379 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 669 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1960s

8
1970s

17
1980s

8
1990s

17
2000s

18
2010s

6
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1990) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest McLeod County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for McLeod County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Waseca County	83	28.9%	62.7%	8.4%	1983
Kanabec County	82	58.5%	37.8%	3.7%	1985
Wadena County	77	79.2%	16.9%	3.9%	1993
McLeod County (this page)	77	50.6%	45.5%	3.9%	1990
Wright County	74	54.1%	43.2%	2.7%	1988
Crow Wing County	73	42.5%	50.7%	6.8%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (77 bridges here).

Clear Creek County, CO · 77 bridges
Liberty County, FL · 77 bridges
Appling County, GA · 77 bridges
Baldwin County, GA · 77 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1990 here).

Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges

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

All 77 Good 39 Fair 35 Poor 3

All bridges (77)

Sort:

McLeod County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

McLeod County's Poor-condition bridges carry 669 vehicle crossings a day

16.9% of McLeod County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How McLeod 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 (77)

T 86

CSAH 23

T 144

MN 22

T 189

CSAH 11

CSAH 1

T 48

T 64

CSAH 25

CSAH 1

CSAH 115

CSAH 15

CSAH 1

CR 54

T 214

T 89

MSAS 109

T 145

T 104

CSAH 15

T 92

T 183

CSAH 3

CR 57

CSAH 13

CSAH 24

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