Total bridges
59
Public highway bridges in Red Lake County
County profile · official public datasets
Red Lake County, MN
59 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 67.8% rated Good, 30.5% Fair, 1.7% Poor.
- 59
- Public bridges
- 67.8%
- Good condition
- 1.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Red Lake County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- Top 18%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 1.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 59
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Red Lake County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Red Lake County ranks #16 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Red Lake County, Minnesota contains 59 public highway bridges. Roughly 67.8% are rated “Good,” 30.5% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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.
Good condition
67.8%
40 of 59 rated 7-9
Fair condition
30.5%
18 of 59 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.7%
1 of 59 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#16 of 87
Among Minnesota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 59 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 67.8% (40)
Fair 30.5% (18)
Poor 1.7% (1)
Red Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 350 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 350 crossings a day against 250 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 59 of 59 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
16.9% of Red Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
10 of the 59 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 67.8% 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
MN 92 over BADGER CREEK, built 1954, carries 350 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 350 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Red Lake County's bridges were built
59 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s 2
1960–1969
2 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
9 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
13 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the Minnesota average (1986).
How Red Lake County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Red Lake County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 86 Minnesota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeker County | 63 | 50.8% | 44.4% | 4.8% | 1982 |
| Lake of the Woods County | 62 | 61.3% | 30.6% | 8.1% | 1989 |
| Chisago County | 61 | 50.8% | 47.5% | 1.6% | 1986 |
| Red Lake County (this page) | 59 | 67.8% | 30.5% | 1.7% | 1985 |
| Cook County | 58 | 55.2% | 39.7% | 5.2% | 1988 |
| Nicollet County | 54 | 77.8% | 22.2% | 0% | 1995 |
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 Red Lake 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 Red Lake County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside MN (59 bridges here).
- San Miguel County, CO · 59 bridges
- Glades County, FL · 59 bridges
- Washington County, NC · 59 bridges
- Marion County, TX · 59 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (18)
M 12
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.1 MI W OF JCT TH 59, Red Lake, MN
Built 1935 Load: 18.6 t ADT: 59
CSAH 18
FairOver: BLACK RIVER
1.2 MI E OF JCT CSAH 3, Red Lake, MN
Built 1971 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 145
CR 126
FairOver: CO DITCH # 57
1.2 MI SW OF JCT CR 129, Red Lake, MN
Built 1938 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 100
M 15
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
0.2 MI W OF JCT TH 32, Red Lake, MN
Built 1975 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 100
CSAH 5
FairOver: LOST RIVER
0.2 MI N OF JCT TH 222, Red Lake, MN
Built 1964 Load: 28.2 t ADT: 850
US 59
FairOver: HILL RIVER
0.3 MI N OF JCT TH 92, Red Lake, MN
Built 1940 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 2,150
MN 32
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
IN RED LAKE FALLS, Red Lake, MN
Built 1941 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 4,600
MN 92
FairOver: HILL RIVER
2.5 MI E OF BROOKS, Red Lake, MN
Built 1953 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 670
MN 92
FairOver: TERREBONNE CREEK
AT TERREBONNE, Red Lake, MN
Built 1953 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 350
MN 92
FairOver: HILL RIVER
1.2 MI E OF JCT TH 59, Red Lake, MN
Built 1989 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 675
US 59
FairOver: LOST RIVER
5.0 MI S OF PLUMMER, Red Lake, MN
Built 2015 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,150
T 90
FairOver: LOWER BADGER CRK(CD # 3)
0.6 MI E OF JCT CR 116, Red Lake, MN
Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 10
CSAH 20
FairOver: CLEARWATER RIVER
1.0 MI W OF JCT CR 118, Red Lake, MN
Built 1975 Load: 35.5 t ADT: 50
T 180
FairOver: POPLAR RIVER
0.7 MI E OF JCT CSAH 15, Red Lake, MN
Built 1980 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 25
CR 103
FairOver: BLACK RIVER
1.2 MI W OF JCT CSAH 18, Red Lake, MN
Built 1985 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 60
CR 114
FairOver: LOWER BADGER CREEK
0.4 MI W OF JCT CR 115, Red Lake, MN
Built 1994 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 70
T 97
FairOver: CO DITCH # 4
0.2 MI E OF JCT CSAH 15, Red Lake, MN
Built 1999 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 10
MN 32
FairOver: Red Lake River
2.0 mi NE Red Lale FallS, Red Lake, MN
Built 2003 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 2,050
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.