County profile · official public datasets

Chippewa County, MN

116 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.1% rated Good, 44% Fair, 6.9% Poor.

116
Public bridges: 49.1%
Good condition: 6.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

69th
of 87 on Poor share: 6.9%
Poor-condition share: 116
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.

Chippewa County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chippewa County ranks #69 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.9%). Chippewa County, Minnesota contains 116 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.1% are rated “Good,” 44% “Fair,” and 6.9% “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

116

Public highway bridges in Chippewa County

Good condition

49.1%

57 of 116 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44%

51 of 116 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.9%

8 of 116 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#69 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 116 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

49.1% (57)

Fair

44% (51)

Poor

6.9% (8)

Chippewa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,415 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 177 crossings a day against 900 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 116 of 116 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.7% of Chippewa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

31 of the 116 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 49.1% 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 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 17 over CO DITCH # 11, built 1978, carries 510 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 1,415 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

4
1940s

3
1950s

5
1960s

14
1970s

20
1980s

14
1990s

13
2000s

14
2010s

20
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1989) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Chippewa County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.9% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1989 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chippewa 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 (this page)	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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (116 bridges here).

Howard County, AR · 116 bridges
Cassia County, ID · 116 bridges
Worth County, IA · 116 bridges
Sheridan County, KS · 116 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 116 Good 57 Fair 51 Poor 8

Fair-condition bridges (51)

Sort:

Chippewa County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chippewa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,415 vehicle crossings a day

26.7% of Chippewa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chippewa 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

Fair-condition bridges (51)

T 32

T 11

CSAH 15

T 61

T 26

T 103

CO. ST. AID HWY 13

CSAH 15

T 39

T 52

CSAH 7

CSAH 12

T 107

MN 7

MN 7

T 55

T 54

T 67

T 31

CSAH 3

CSAH 15

T 49

T 105

T 116

T 117

CSAH 14

T 26

T 102

CR 35

CSAH 17

CSAH 9

MN 40

CSAH 9

MSAS 105

CSAH 1

T 36

T 221

T 151

T 108

T 117

CSAH 4

M 24

T 42

US 212

T 105

T 111

T 15

T 82

T 21

T 100

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