Total bridges
259
Public highway bridges in Dakota County
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.
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.
When Dakota County's bridges were built
259 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 5
1940–1949
5 bridges
- 1950s 8
1950–1959
8 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
23 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
37 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
57 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
47 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
46 bridges
- 2010s 19
2010–2019
19 bridges
- 2020s 7
2020–2029
7 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (259)
I 35E
FairOver: CSAH 42
0.4 MI NE OF JCT TH 35W, Dakota, MN
Built 1978 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 28,000
I 35E
FairOver: CSAH 42
0.4 MI NE OF JCT TH 35W, Dakota, MN
Built 1978 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 29,500
US 52
FairOver: Vermillion River
4.2 MI N OF JCT TH 50, Dakota, MN
Built 1961 Load: 43.3 t ADT: 15,443
MSAS 106
FairOver: US 52
0.7 MI S OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1988 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 8,000
MN 3
FairOver: I 494
1.0 MI W OF JCT TH 52, Dakota, MN
Built 1985 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 9,427
MSAS 101
FairOver: I 35E
1.0 MI NE OF JCT TH 35W, Dakota, MN
Built 1979 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 6,900
US 61
FairOver: VERMILLION RIVER
0.8 MI S OF JCT TH 55, Dakota, MN
Built 1978 Load: 44.4 t ADT: 27,500
MN 149
FairOver: I 494
0.8 MI E OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 22,900
CSAH 28
FairOver: I 35E NB ON RAMP
2.3 MI SW OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 44.5 t ADT: 26,000
CSAH 46
FairOver: I 35
1.6 MI S OF JCT 35 E;W, Dakota, MN
Built 1995 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 36,500
M 141
FairOver: I 494
2.7 MI E OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1985 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 500
US 52
FairOver: UP RR
5.4 MI S OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1958 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 22,902
US 52
FairOver: I 494 COLL ROADS
AT THE JCT TH 52; 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 46.2 t ADT: 32,500
US 52
FairOver: I 494 COLL ROADS
AT THE JCT TH 52; 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 46.2 t ADT: 27,702
I 35
FairOver: CP RR
2.1 MI S OF JCT TH 35 E, Dakota, MN
Built 1992 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 38,017
CSAH 38
FairOver: I 35E
1.6 MI NE OF JCT TH 35W, Dakota, MN
Built 1979 Load: 46.9 t ADT: 18,900
I 35E
FairOver: Southcross Drive
AT THE JCT TH 35W, Dakota, MN
Built 1979 Load: 46.9 t ADT: 22,500
M 443
FairOver: I 494
0.4 MI E OF JCT TH 52, Dakota, MN
Built 1983 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 5,200
MN 55
FairOver: US 52 SB
3.5 MI S OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1992 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 8,942
CSAH 31
FairOver: I 35E SB off ramp
2.5 MI SW OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 47.7 t ADT: 30,500
CSAH 26
FairOver: US 52
1.9 MI S OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1990 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 12,100
CSAH 26
FairOver: I 35E
1.1 MI SW OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1983 Load: 49.0 t ADT: 9,582
T 1304
FairOver: DITCH
3.2 MI NE OF JCT CSAH 66, Dakota, MN
Built 1942 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 25
MN 77
FairOver: UP RR
0.3 MI N OF JCT TH 13, Dakota, MN
Built 1978 Load: 50.6 t ADT: 45,951
T 166
FairOver: CANNON RIVER
0.1 MI SE OF JCT CSAH 47, Dakota, MN
Built 2010 Load: 50.6 t ADT: 403
CSAH 63
FairOver: I 494
2.0 MI E OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1985 Load: 50.6 t ADT: 2,803
I 35W
FairOver: SOTHCROSS DRIVE
AT S JCT TH 35E; 35, Dakota, MN
Built 1980 Load: 50.6 t ADT: 26,500
MSAS 102
FairOver: I 35E
4.0 MI SW OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 51.4 t ADT: 3,654
CSAH 30
FairOver: I 35E
2.3 MI NE OF JCT TH 77, Dakota, MN
Built 1984 Load: 51.6 t ADT: 19,231
I 35
FairOver: LAKE MARION
4.6 MI S OF JCT TH 35 E, Dakota, MN
Built 1965 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 32,786
MN 62
FairOver: SIBLEY MEMORIAL; BIKE
AT THE N JCT TH 13, Dakota, MN
Built 1993 Load: 52.1 t ADT: 28,000
MN 62
FairOver: I 494 WB ON RAMP
0.7 MI W OF JCT TH 52, Dakota, MN
Built 1985 Load: 52.2 t ADT: 12,168
MSAS 106
FairOver: I 35E
0.6 MI S OF JCT TH 110, Dakota, MN
Built 1982 Load: 52.7 t ADT: 900
CSAH 32
FairOver: I 35E
1.1 MI NE OF JCT TH 77, Dakota, MN
Built 1983 Load: 53.2 t ADT: 28,500
I 494
FairOver: OFF RAMP TO I 35E SB
AT THE JCT TH 35E; 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1983 Load: 55.7 t ADT: 47,000
CSAH 42
FairOver: I 35W
0.4 MI N OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1989 Load: 58.6 t ADT: 51,292
MN 13
FairOver: HAPPY HOLLOW
1.0 MI NE OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1979 Load: 58.8 t ADT: 6,528
MN 62
FairOver: SIBLEY MEMORIAL; BIKE
AT THE N JCT TH 13, Dakota, MN
Built 1993 Load: 59.0 t ADT: 27,500
MSAS 101
FairOver: STREAM
3.2 MI N OF JCT CSAH 50, Dakota, MN
Built 1990 Load: 67.1 t ADT: 7,100
I 35W
FairOver: SOTHCROSS DRIVE
AT JCT TH 35E; 35, Dakota, MN
Built 1980 Load: 72.2 t ADT: 26,593
I 35
FairOver: LAKE MARION
4.6 MI S OF JCT TH 35 E, Dakota, MN
Built 1965 Load: 76.6 t ADT: 32,786
T 180
GoodOver: VERMILLION RIVER
1.5 MI N OF JCT CSAH 62, Dakota, MN
Built 1982 Load: 23.9 t ADT: 80
M 17
GoodOver: VERMILLION RIVER
1.2 MI E OF JCT TH 61, Dakota, MN
Built 1987 Load: 25.1 t ADT: 100
T 1482
GoodOver: VERMILLION RIVER
0.2 MI W OF JCT CSAH 9, Dakota, MN
Built 1982 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 185
MSAS 104
GoodOver: PED WALK
0.4 MI S OF JCT TH 13, Dakota, MN
Built 1969 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 5,200
CR 83
GoodOver: CHUB CREEK
0.4 MI S OF JCT CSAH 88, Dakota, MN
Built 1986 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 42
CSAH 42
GoodOver: CP RR
0.3 MI W OF JCT CSAH 5, Dakota, MN
Built 2007 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 37,020
US 52
GoodOver: Pedestrian Trail
1.0 MI S OF JCT TH 494, Dakota, MN
Built 1990 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 53,893
MSAS 136
GoodOver: VERMILLION RIVER
.09 MI N OF JCT CSAH 46, Dakota, MN
Built 2003 Load: 30.2 t ADT: 100
MN 13
GoodOver: LiIydale Road
0.3 MI NE OF JCT TH 35E, Dakota, MN
Built 1983 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 10,180
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.