County profile · official public datasets

Carver County, MN

115 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 57.4% rated Good, 40% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

115
Public bridges: 57.4%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Carver County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 30%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 115
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

Carver County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carver County ranks #26 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Carver County, Minnesota contains 115 public highway bridges. Roughly 57.4% are rated “Good,” 40% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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

115

Public highway bridges in Carver County

Good condition

57.4%

66 of 115 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40%

46 of 115 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

3 of 115 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#26 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 115 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

57.4% (66)

Fair

40% (46)

Poor

2.6% (3)

Carver County's Poor-condition bridges carry 862 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 287 crossings a day against 7,541 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 115 of 115 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

15.7% of Carver County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 115 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 57.4% 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 85.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MSAS 113 over TCW RR, built 1913, carries 736 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 862 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

3
1940s

2
1950s

2
1960s

2
1970s

19
1980s

9
1990s

14
2000s

36
2010s

17
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Carver County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Carver 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	117	54.7%	36.8%	8.5%	1985
Chippewa County	116	49.1%	44%	6.9%	1989
Carver County (this page)	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 Carver 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 Carver County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (115 bridges here).

Alachua County, FL · 115 bridges
Walton County, GA · 115 bridges
Latah County, ID · 115 bridges
Whitley County, IN · 115 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges

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

All 115 Good 66 Fair 46 Poor 3

All bridges (115)

Sort:

Carver County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carver County's Poor-condition bridges carry 862 vehicle crossings a day

15.7% of Carver County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 85.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carver 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 (115)

MSAS 124

M 47

US 212

US 212

MSAS 103

T 299

MN 7

MN 7

MSAS 104

M 182

MN 5

M 440

CSAH 11

MSAS 106

T 31

T 110

T 22

T 116

CSAH 10

T 128

CSAH 11

CR 153

T 414

T 396

CSAH 51

CR 152

CSAH 23

MN 41

CSAH 20

CSAH 33

CSAH 33

CSAH 61

MSAS 107

MN 5

MN 5

CSAH 33

MN 41

MSAS 103

CSAH 17

CSAH 61

CSAH 61

CSAH 30

CSAH 10

CSAH 10

US 212

US 212

MN 7

MN 25

MSAS 107

CSAH 43

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