County profile · official public datasets

Dakota County, MN

259 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44% rated Good, 54.4% Fair, 1.5% Poor.

259
Public bridges: 44%
Good condition: 1.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.5%
Poor-condition share: 259
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Dakota County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dakota County ranks #12 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.5%). Dakota County, Minnesota contains 259 public highway bridges. Roughly 44% are rated “Good,” 54.4% “Fair,” and 1.5% “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

259

Public highway bridges in Dakota County

Good condition

44%

114 of 259 rated 7-9

Fair condition

54.4%

141 of 259 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.5%

4 of 259 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 259 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44% (114)

Fair

54.4% (141)

Poor

1.5% (4)

Dakota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 117,901 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 29,475 crossings a day against 5,493 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 259 of 259 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

23.2% of Dakota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

60 of the 259 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 44% 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 80.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 35W over UP RR Cliff Rd (CSAH32), built 1959, carries 94,603 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 117,901 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

5
1930s

3
1940s

5
1950s

8
1960s

23
1970s

37
1980s

57
1990s

47
2000s

46
2010s

19
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Dakota County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dakota County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Polk County	268	63.1%	33.6%	3.4%	1989
Rock County	265	80%	17.7%	2.3%	1991
Dakota County (this page)	259	44%	54.4%	1.5%	1986
Winona County	237	43%	52.3%	4.6%	1982
Lyon County	234	75.2%	21.8%	3%	1983
Stearns County	229	54.6%	42.8%	2.6%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (259 bridges here).

Apache County, AZ · 259 bridges
Gila County, AZ · 259 bridges
Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges
Hampshire County, MA · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 259 Good 114 Fair 141 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (114)

Sort:

Dakota County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dakota County's Poor-condition bridges carry 117,901 vehicle crossings a day

23.2% of Dakota County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 80.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dakota 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 (114)

T 180

M 17

T 1482

MSAS 104

CR 83

CSAH 42

US 52

MSAS 136

MN 13

MSAS 129

MSAS 115

CR 81

T 174

CSAH 9

CR 90

T 181

CR 83

CSAH 78

CSAH 23

CSAH 23

CSAH 91

CSAH 47

CSAH 78

CSAH 85

CSAH 23

MSAS 123

T 1663

CSAH 26

MN 13

MSAS 102

MSAS 104

CSAH 23

MSAS 133

T 103

MSAS 151

CSAH 54

T 126

T 186

T 1214

T 167

CSAH 23

CSAH 86

US 52

US 52

M 1

CSAH 50

CSAH 5

CSAH 31

CSAH 64

CSAH 73

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