County profile · official public datasets

Brown County, MN

108 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.2% rated Good, 38% Fair, 1.9% Poor.

108
Public bridges: 60.2%
Good condition: 1.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.9%
Poor-condition share: 108
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.

Brown County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Brown County ranks #17 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.9%). Brown County, Minnesota contains 108 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.2% are rated “Good,” 38% “Fair,” and 1.9% “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

108

Public highway bridges in Brown County

Good condition

60.2%

65 of 108 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38%

41 of 108 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.9%

2 of 108 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#17 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 108 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.2% (65)

Fair

38% (41)

Poor

1.9% (2)

Brown County's Poor-condition bridges carry 431 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 216 crossings a day against 711 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 108 of 108 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.8% of Brown County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

30 of the 108 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 60.2% 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 93.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 5 over LITTLE COTTONWOOD RIVER, built 1951, carries 402 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 431 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

5
1940s

2
1950s

10
1960s

7
1970s

30
1980s

16
1990s

12
2000s

17
2010s

8
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.8% 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 Brown County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Brown County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1989 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Brown County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carver County	115	57.4%	40%	2.6%	1995
Washington County	112	42.9%	52.7%	4.5%	1990
Brown County (this page)	108	60.2%	38%	1.9%	1982
Mille Lacs County	107	55.1%	37.4%	7.5%	1986
Lincoln County	106	54.7%	38.7%	6.6%	1981
Sibley County	102	61.8%	37.3%	1%	1994

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (108 bridges here).

Lassen County, CA · 108 bridges
Pulaski County, IL · 108 bridges
West Feliciana County, LA · 108 bridges
Shelby County, MO · 108 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 108 Good 65 Fair 41 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (65)

Sort:

Brown County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Brown County's Poor-condition bridges carry 431 vehicle crossings a day

27.8% of Brown County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 93.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Brown 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 (65)

CSAH 3

T 369

T 91

MN 4

CSAH 20

CSAH 20

T 12

CSAH 10

CSAH 7

T 137

T 179

T 34

T 58

T 17

T 155

T 172

T 178

T 165

T 1

CSAH 13

M 67

T 155

CSAH 8

CSAH 2

US 14

CSAH 22

T 259

T 293

T 17

CSAH 1

CSAH 2

CSAH 10

CSAH 10

CSAH 3

T 170

CSAH 17

T 221

US 14

CSAH 16

US 14

T 205

T 206

CSAH 10

MSAS 110

T 180

CR 102

CSAH 27

T 155

T 40

T 122

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