County profile · official public datasets

Dodge County, MN

177 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 46.9% rated Good, 44.1% Fair, 9% Poor.

177
Public bridges: 46.9%
Good condition: 9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

82nd
of 87 on Poor share: 9%
Poor-condition share: 177
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dodge County ranks #82 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9%). Dodge County, Minnesota contains 177 public highway bridges. Roughly 46.9% are rated “Good,” 44.1% “Fair,” and 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

177

Public highway bridges in Dodge County

Good condition

46.9%

83 of 177 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.1%

78 of 177 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16 of 177 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#82 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 177 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

46.9% (83)

Fair

44.1% (78)

Poor

9% (16)

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,469 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 154 crossings a day against 891 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 177 of 177 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

18.6% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

33 of the 177 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 46.9% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 9 over DITCH, built 1938, carries 739 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,469 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

3
1930s

14
1940s

8
1950s

3
1960s

2
1970s

43
1980s

32
1990s

31
2000s

13
2010s

17
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Dodge County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 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 Dodge County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County	182	67%	30.2%	2.7%	1986
Dodge County (this page)	177	46.9%	44.1%	9%	1983
Lac qui Parle County	174	73%	19.5%	7.5%	1986
Houston County	172	64%	33.7%	2.3%	1990
Pine County	171	63.2%	32.2%	4.7%	1987
Itasca County	170	50%	44.7%	5.3%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (177 bridges here).

Hale County, AL · 177 bridges
Macon County, AL · 177 bridges
Washington County, AL · 177 bridges
Seminole County, FL · 177 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 177 Good 83 Fair 78 Poor 16

All bridges (177)

Sort:

Dodge County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dodge County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,469 vehicle crossings a day

18.6% of Dodge County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dodge 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 (177)

T 9

CSAH 24

T 166

T 160

T 152

T 139

T 139

CSAH 2

CSAH 1

MN 56

MN 56

CSAH 2

CSAH 15

MN 30

MN 57

T 186

T 143

T 21

T 11

T 97

CSAH 22

T 6

T 54

T 9

T 128

T 124

T 140

CSAH 3

T 164

T 80

T 99

T 47

T 37

T 9

CSAH 3

T 83

T 26

T 99

T 58

T 80

CSAH 7

T 161

CSAH 7

CSAH 3

T 8

T 123

T 32

UNU 2014

MN 56

MN 57

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