County profile · official public datasets

Benton County, MN

117 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.7% rated Good, 36.8% Fair, 8.5% Poor.

117
Public bridges: 54.7%
Good condition: 8.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

80th
of 87 on Poor share: 8.5%
Poor-condition share: 117
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.

Benton County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Benton County ranks #80 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.5%). Benton County, Minnesota contains 117 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.7% are rated “Good,” 36.8% “Fair,” and 8.5% “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

117

Public highway bridges in Benton County

Good condition

54.7%

64 of 117 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.8%

43 of 117 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.5%

10 of 117 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#80 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 117 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.7% (64)

Fair

36.8% (43)

Poor

8.5% (10)

Benton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,406 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 541 crossings a day against 2,740 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 117 of 117 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.6% of Benton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

37 of the 117 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 54.7% 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 28.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 4 over ELK RIVER, built 1973, carries 1,550 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,406 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

7
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

14
1970s

23
1980s

11
1990s

25
2000s

14
2010s

9
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.4% 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 Benton County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Benton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.5% Poor share is the 6th-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.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Benton County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Traverse County	121	65.3%	33.1%	1.7%	1985
Benton County (this page)	117	54.7%	36.8%	8.5%	1985
Chippewa County	116	49.1%	44%	6.9%	1989
Carver County	115	57.4%	40%	2.6%	1995
Washington County	112	42.9%	52.7%	4.5%	1990
Brown County	108	60.2%	38%	1.9%	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 Benton 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 Benton County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (117 bridges here).

Franklin County, GA · 117 bridges
Polk County, GA · 117 bridges
Clark County, KY · 117 bridges
Fleming County, KY · 117 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.

All 117 Good 64 Fair 43 Poor 10

Good-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Benton County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Benton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,406 vehicle crossings a day

31.6% of Benton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Benton 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

Good-condition bridges (64)

T 128

CSAH 9

CSAH 3

CSAH 4

MN 25

CR 52

CSAH 10

CSAH 12

CR 42

CR 80

CR 78

CR 78

CR 50

CR 51

CR 67

T 12

T 125

T 115

CSAH 7

CSAH 23

T 16

T 141

CR 80

T 239

MSAS 115

CSAH 1

CR 68

CSAH 23

CSAH 15

T 22

CSAH 3

T 161

T 172

CSAH 27

CSAH 3

CSAH 4

ALY 70

T 22

CR 78

CSAH 6

T 34

MN 23

CR 87

CR 67

CR 59

CR 40

CR 82

CR 52

T 138

MN 23

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