County profile · official public datasets

Wilkin County, MN

196 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 80.6% rated Good, 15.3% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

196
Public bridges: 80.6%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 87 on Poor share: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 196
public highway bridges: 1989
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.

Wilkin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wilkin County ranks #45 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Wilkin County, Minnesota contains 196 public highway bridges. Roughly 80.6% are rated “Good,” 15.3% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

196

Public highway bridges in Wilkin County

Good condition

80.6%

158 of 196 rated 7-9

Fair condition

15.3%

30 of 196 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

8 of 196 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 196 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

80.6% (158)

Fair

15.3% (30)

Poor

4.1% (8)

Wilkin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 574 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 72 crossings a day against 207 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 196 of 196 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

14.8% of Wilkin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 196 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 80.6% 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 79.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 4 ROW over CO DITCH # 9, built 1940, carries 456 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 574 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

4
1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

8
1970s

19
1980s

42
1990s

64
2000s

28
2010s

13
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Wilkin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Wilkin County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Marshall County	215	72.1%	26.5%	1.4%	1988
Redwood County	200	53%	36.5%	10.5%	1986
Wilkin County (this page)	196	80.6%	15.3%	4.1%	1989
Blue Earth County	193	49.7%	43%	7.3%	1982
Pipestone County	185	64.9%	31.9%	3.2%	1998
Jackson County	182	67%	30.2%	2.7%	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 Wilkin 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 Wilkin County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (196 bridges here).

Page County, IA · 196 bridges
Sampson County, NC · 196 bridges
Mifflin County, PA · 196 bridges
Cherokee County, TX · 196 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1989 here).

Harris County, TX · avg 1989 · 4,029 bridges
Mecklenburg County, NC · avg 1989 · 746 bridges
Buffalo County, NE · avg 1989 · 459 bridges
Brazos County, TX · avg 1989 · 370 bridges

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

All 196 Good 158 Fair 30 Poor 8

All bridges (196)

Sort:

Wilkin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Wilkin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 574 vehicle crossings a day

14.8% of Wilkin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Wilkin 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 (196)

T 112

T 122

CSAH 16

CSAH 5

CSAH 30

CSAH 28

CR 178

CR 188

T 123

CSAH 32

CSAH 22

CSAH 12

MN 210

US 75

CSAH 14

CR 188

CSAH 19

MN 108

CSAH 17

CSAH 9

T 34

MN 210

MN 9

MN 55

MN 210

CSAH 2

US 75

US 75

M 29

CSAH 10

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

MN 9

US 75

US 75

US 75

US 75

T 2

MN 9

T 95

T 140

T 132

T 76

T 184

CR 170

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