County profile · official public datasets

Fillmore County, MN

348 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.3% rated Good, 63.8% Fair, 2.9% Poor.

348
Public bridges: 33.3%
Good condition: 2.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.9%
Poor-condition share: 348
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Fillmore County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fillmore County ranks #34 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Fillmore County, Minnesota contains 348 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.3% are rated “Good,” 63.8% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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

348

Public highway bridges in Fillmore County

Good condition

33.3%

116 of 348 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.8%

222 of 348 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.9%

10 of 348 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#34 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 348 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

33.3% (116)

Fair

63.8% (222)

Poor

2.9% (10)

Fillmore County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,162 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 216 crossings a day against 475 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 348 of 348 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.1% of Fillmore County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

91 of the 348 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 33.3% 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 48.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 5 over STREAM, built 1966, carries 1,050 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 2,162 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

3
1920s

10
1930s

20
1940s

18
1950s

5
1960s

21
1970s

54
1980s

50
1990s

52
2000s

54
2010s

47
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Fillmore County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fillmore County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Olmsted County	365	64.1%	34.5%	1.4%	1985
Fillmore County (this page)	348	33.3%	63.8%	2.9%	1984
Mower County	343	44.6%	47.2%	8.2%	1988
Ramsey County	341	35.5%	58.1%	6.5%	1984
Goodhue County	333	50.5%	43.5%	6%	1979
Nobles County	304	70.7%	27.6%	1.6%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (348 bridges here).

Cumberland County, NC · 348 bridges
Mahoning County, OH · 348 bridges
Cumberland County, PA · 348 bridges
Pennington County, SD · 348 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1984 here).

Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges
Steuben County, NY · avg 1984 · 627 bridges

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

All 348 Good 116 Fair 222 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (222)

Sort:

Fillmore County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fillmore County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,162 vehicle crossings a day

26.1% of Fillmore County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 48.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fillmore 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 (222)

T 246

T 307

CSAH 25

CR 104

CSAH 11

T 166

T 165

T 247

T 248

M 17

T 439

T 183

T 386

T 153

T 443

CR 118

CSAH 29

CSAH 5

CSAH 36

SERVICE RD

SERVICE RD

CSAH 27

T 383

T 310

CSAH 17

T 71

CSAH 5

T 274

CSAH 16

CSAH 21

T 161

CSAH 1

CR 107

T 101

T 140

CSAH 16

T 107

CSAH 11

CSAH 23

CSAH 34

T 198

CSAH 1

MN 16

MN 16

MN 16

MN 16

MN 16

US 52

US 52

US 52

Related