County profile · official public datasets

Norman County, MN

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 75.2% rated Good, 21.5% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

149
Public bridges: 75.2%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 45%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 149
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Norman County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Norman County ranks #39 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Norman County, Minnesota contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 75.2% are rated “Good,” 21.5% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

149

Public highway bridges in Norman County

Good condition

75.2%

112 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

21.5%

32 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

5 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#39 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

75.2% (112)

Fair

21.5% (32)

Poor

3.4% (5)

Norman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 451 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 90 crossings a day against 187 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 149 of 149 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.5% of Norman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

38 of the 149 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 75.2% 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 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 42 over SAND HILL RIVER, built 1959, carries 205 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 451 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

2
1930s

2
1940s

4
1950s

5
1960s

10
1970s

40
1980s

27
1990s

19
2000s

20
2010s

13
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Norman County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 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 Norman County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Anoka County	151	55%	40.4%	4.6%	1990
Cottonwood County	151	74.8%	23.8%	1.3%	1981
Otter Tail County	149	40.9%	52.3%	6.7%	1980
Norman County (this page)	149	75.2%	21.5%	3.4%	1983
Carlton County	147	51.7%	39.5%	8.8%	1986
Wabasha County	147	60.5%	39.5%	0%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (149 bridges here).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Drew County, AR · 149 bridges
Madison County, AR · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 149 Good 112 Fair 32 Poor 5

All bridges (149)

Sort:

Norman County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Norman County's Poor-condition bridges carry 451 vehicle crossings a day

25.5% of Norman County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Norman 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 (149)

CR 108

CR 106

CSAH 35

CSAH 24

CSAH 20

CSAH 10

T 97

MN 9

T 310

CR 137

US 75

MN 200

MN 32

MN 9

MN 113

MN 200

CR 126

MN 32

MN 9

CR 128

CR 140

T 382

T 339

T 317

MN 9

MN 200

T 202

CR 140

MN 200

MN 9

MN 200

US 75

T 58

CR 129

T 246

CSAH 33

CSAH 33

CR 116

CSAH 11

CSAH 22

US 75

T 246

CSAH 3

CSAH 10

CSAH 29

CR 136

T 245

MN 9

CR 145

CSAH 18

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