County profile · official public datasets

Hennepin County, MN

936 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.6% rated Good, 55.3% Fair, 4.1% Poor.

936
Public bridges: 40.6%
Good condition: 4.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

44th
of 87 on Poor share: 4.1%
Poor-condition share: 936
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.

Hennepin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hennepin County ranks #44 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.1%). Hennepin County, Minnesota contains 936 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.6% are rated “Good,” 55.3% “Fair,” and 4.1% “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

936

Public highway bridges in Hennepin County

Good condition

40.6%

380 of 936 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.3%

518 of 936 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.1%

38 of 936 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#44 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 936 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.6% (380)

Fair

55.3% (518)

Poor

4.1% (38)

Hennepin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 334,931 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 8,814 crossings a day against 22,491 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 936 of 936 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.2% of Hennepin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

292 of the 936 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 40.6% 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 13.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 494 over Minnesota River, built 1981, carries 44,357 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 38-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 334,931 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

3
1900s

5
1910s

30
1920s

18
1930s

9
1940s

6
1950s

24
1960s

149
1970s

92
1980s

199
1990s

119
2000s

148
2010s

88
2020s

46

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 199 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Hennepin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hennepin County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hennepin County (this page)	936	40.6%	55.3%	4.1%	1984
St. Louis County	663	50.4%	42.8%	6.8%	1987
Olmsted County	365	64.1%	34.5%	1.4%	1985
Fillmore County	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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (936 bridges here).

Jackson County, MO · 930 bridges
Franklin County, OH · 922 bridges
Fresno County, CA · 916 bridges
Marion County, IN · 958 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 936 Good 380 Fair 518 Poor 38

Fair-condition bridges (518)

Sort:

Hennepin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hennepin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 334,931 vehicle crossings a day

31.2% of Hennepin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 13.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hennepin 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 (518)

MN 252

CON 6330

MSAS 217

MSAS 282

CON 2508

US 169

MN 62

MN 62

CON 1812

IHO 394

CON 2303

CON 1736

CON 823

CON 3002

CON 4971

CON 115

CON 4448

CON 5148

I 94

MSAS 186

M 836

I 694

CSAH 158

CSAH 17

CSAH 35

CSAH 81

MSAS 134

CSAH 2

MN 610

CSAH 44

MSAS 263

CSAH 40

CON 2786

I 35W

MSAS 454

CON 4313

CON 5772

CON 2478

CON 2478

CON 6354

CON 2531

MSAS 172

CON 2263

I 494

CON 4512

MSAS 305

MSAS 260

CSAH 10

MN 55

MN 77

Related