County profile · official public datasets

Pope County, MN

47 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 87.2% rated Good, 10.6% Fair, 2.1% Poor.

47
Public bridges: 87.2%
Good condition: 2.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 23%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.1%
Poor-condition share: 47
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Pope County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pope County ranks #20 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.1%). Pope County, Minnesota contains 47 public highway bridges. Roughly 87.2% are rated “Good,” 10.6% “Fair,” and 2.1% “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.

Total bridges

Public highway bridges in Pope County

Good condition

87.2%

41 of 47 rated 7-9

Fair condition

10.6%

5 of 47 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.1%

1 of 47 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 47 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

87.2% (41)

Fair

10.6% (5)

Poor

2.1% (1)

Pope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1 crossings a day against 484 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 47 of 47 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

12.8% of Pope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

6 of the 47 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 87.2% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

T 246 over CHIPPEWA RIVER, built 1998, carries 1 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

2
1960s

1
1970s

11
1980s

9
1990s

11
2000s

9
2010s

2
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 11 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 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1987) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Pope County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pope County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clearwater County	50	50%	50%	0%	1981
Pennington County	49	75.5%	22.4%	2%	1985
Sherburne County	47	57.4%	40.4%	2.1%	1992
Pope County (this page)	47	87.2%	10.6%	2.1%	1987
Hubbard County	45	55.6%	42.2%	2.2%	1990
Stevens County	44	65.9%	29.5%	4.5%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (47 bridges here).

Juneau City and County, AK · 47 bridges
Jackson County, CO · 47 bridges
Ben Hill County, GA · 47 bridges
Long County, GA · 47 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges
Dane County, WI · avg 1987 · 590 bridges

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

All 47 Good 41 Fair 5 Poor 1

All bridges (47)

Sort:

M 9

Fair

Over: GOLF COURSE CREEK

0.3 MI N OF JCT TH 28, Pope, MN

Built 1991 Load: 16.8 t ADT: 25

MN 55

Fair

Over: E BR CHIPPEWA RIVER

2.6 MI NW OF SEDAN, Pope, MN

Built 1935 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 2,385

CR 71

Fair

Over: CHIPPEWA RIVER

2.6 MI S OF JCT CSAH 2, Pope, MN

Built 1970 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 115

CSAH 21

Fair

Over: E BR CHIPPEWA RIVER

0.1 MI S OF JCT CSAH 23, Pope, MN

Built 1918 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 85

MN 55

Fair

Over: TH 28

AT THE JCT OF TH 55, Pope, MN

Pope County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1 vehicle crossings a day

12.8% of Pope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pope 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 (47)

M 9

MN 55

CR 71

CSAH 21

MN 55

T 62

MN 28

T 93

T 69

MN 29

T 33

CSAH 3

MN 28

T 63

T 175

CSAH 19

CSAH 14

CSAH 4

T 170

T 1233

T 114

T 114

CSAH 10

T 162

T 621

T 70

T 9

T 81

MN 29

CSAH 3

T 340

CSAH 2

T 20

T 220

CSAH 22

CSAH 1

CSAH 18

T 59

T 44

T 77

T 253

T 55

CSAH 18

T 79

CSAH 3

T 81

T 246

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