County profile · official public datasets

Blue Earth County, MN

193 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.7% rated Good, 43% Fair, 7.3% Poor.

193
Public bridges: 49.7%
Good condition: 7.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

71st
of 87 on Poor share: 7.3%
Poor-condition share: 193
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Blue Earth County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Blue Earth County ranks #71 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Blue Earth County, Minnesota contains 193 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.7% are rated “Good,” 43% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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

193

Public highway bridges in Blue Earth County

Good condition

49.7%

96 of 193 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43%

83 of 193 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.3%

14 of 193 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 193 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

49.7% (96)

Fair

43% (83)

Poor

7.3% (14)

Blue Earth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 104,952 vehicle crossings a day

That is 16.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 7,497 crossings a day against 945 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 193 of 193 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.2% of Blue Earth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

64 of the 193 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 49.7% 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 37.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 14 over MINN RIVER; UP RR, built 1976, carries 39,000 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 104,952 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

5
1940s

9
1950s

13
1960s

25
1970s

47
1980s

25
1990s

24
2000s

22
2010s

18
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Blue Earth County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Blue Earth County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Redwood County	200	53%	36.5%	10.5%	1986
Wilkin County	196	80.6%	15.3%	4.1%	1989
Blue Earth County (this page)	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
Dodge County	177	46.9%	44.1%	9%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (193 bridges here).

Jo Daviess County, IL · 193 bridges
Cecil County, MD · 193 bridges
Jasper County, MS · 193 bridges
Cooper County, MO · 193 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 193 Good 96 Fair 83 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (96)

Sort:

Blue Earth County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Blue Earth County's Poor-condition bridges carry 104,952 vehicle crossings a day

33.2% of Blue Earth County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Blue Earth 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 (96)

T 11

CSAH 14

CSAH 16

MN 30

CSAH 30

T 174

CSAH 32

CSAH 1

CSAH 5

CSAH 32

T 24

T 112

CSAH 1

CR 144

CR 111

CSAH 15

CSAH 52

CR 169

CSAH 82

CR 159

CSAH 90

CR 172

CSAH 42

T 326

T 76

CSAH 8

T 13

CR 132

M 25

T 413

T 327

T 31

T 19

T 398

CR 158

CR 109

CR 109

CSAH 21

CR 148

T 397

CR 114

T 413

T 36

CSAH 10

T 36

CSAH 5

CR 161

CSAH 7

T 408

T 184

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