County profile · official public datasets

Faribault County, MN

226 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50.9% rated Good, 44.7% Fair, 4.4% Poor.

226
Public bridges: 50.9%
Good condition: 4.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

48th
of 87 on Poor share: 4.4%
Poor-condition share: 226
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.

Faribault County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Faribault County ranks #48 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.4%). Faribault County, Minnesota contains 226 public highway bridges. Roughly 50.9% are rated “Good,” 44.7% “Fair,” and 4.4% “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

226

Public highway bridges in Faribault County

Good condition

50.9%

115 of 226 rated 7-9

Fair condition

44.7%

101 of 226 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.4%

10 of 226 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#48 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 226 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

50.9% (115)

Fair

44.7% (101)

Poor

4.4% (10)

Faribault County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,064 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 106 crossings a day against 332 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 226 of 226 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

23.9% of Faribault County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

54 of the 226 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 50.9% 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 46.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 2 over BRUSH CREEK, built 1956, carries 490 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,064 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

2
1940s

5
1950s

7
1960s

16
1970s

74
1980s

40
1990s

19
2000s

22
2010s

26
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 32.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Faribault County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Faribault County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Faribault County (this page)	226	50.9%	44.7%	4.4%	1986
Clay County	225	53.8%	40.4%	5.8%	1984
Yellow Medicine County	218	67.4%	29.8%	2.8%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (226 bridges here).

Oktibbeha County, MS · 226 bridges
Beaverhead County, MT · 226 bridges
Columbus County, NC · 226 bridges
Jefferson County, OH · 226 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 226 Good 115 Fair 101 Poor 10

All bridges (226)

Sort:

Faribault County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Faribault County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,064 vehicle crossings a day

23.9% of Faribault County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 46.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Faribault 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 (226)

T 115

T 254

T 93

T 247

T 249

T 332

T 235

T 235

CSAH 21

T 232

CSAH 4

CSAH 4

CSAH 10

T 7

T 43

T 137

T 215

T 43

CSAH 21

T 333

T 176

CSAH 16

CSAH 34

CSAH 32

T 172

T 186

T 117

T 190

T 155

CR 126

T 226

T 121

CSAH 16

T 110

T 203

CSAH 16

CSAH 2

T 44

T 146

CSAH 17

T 130

T 3

T 206

CSAH 16

CSAH 16

T 3

M 88

T 234

T 50

T 211

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