County profile · official public datasets

Mower County, MN

343 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.6% rated Good, 47.2% Fair, 8.2% Poor.

343
Public bridges
44.6%
Good condition
8.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

77th
of 87 on Poor share
8.2%
Poor-condition share
343
public highway bridges
1988
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.

Mower County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mower County ranks #77 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.2%). Mower County, Minnesota contains 343 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.6% are rated “Good,” 47.2% “Fair,” and 8.2% “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

343

Public highway bridges in Mower County

Good condition

44.6%

153 of 343 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.2%

162 of 343 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.2%

28 of 343 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#77 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 343 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
44.6% (153)
Fair
47.2% (162)
Poor
8.2% (28)

Mower County's Poor-condition bridges carry 46,880 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,674 crossings a day against 830 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 343 of 343 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

27.1% of Mower County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

93 of the 343 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 44.6% 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 28.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 90 over ROSE CREEK, built 1959, carries 13,166 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 46,880 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Mower County's bridges were built

343 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1988) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Mower County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Mower County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Olmsted County 365 1.4%
Fillmore County 348 2.9%
Mower County (this page) 343 8.2%
Ramsey County 341 6.5%
Goodhue County 333 6%
Nobles County 304 1.6%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (343 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1988 here).

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

All 343 Good 153 Fair 162 Poor 28

Poor-condition bridges (28)

CSAH 29

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

0.3 MI N OF JCT CSAH 4, Mower, MN

Built 1966 Load: 13.1 t ADT: 530

CSAH 25

Poor

Over: CEDAR RIVER

0.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 16, Mower, MN

Built 1968 Load: 13.1 t ADT: 949

T 146

Poor

Over: DITCH

0.1 MI N OF JCT TH 251, Mower, MN

Built 1923 Load: 13.5 t ADT: 23

M 3

Poor

Over: SCHWERIN CREEK

0.4 MI W OF JCT CSAH 7, Mower, MN

Built 1936 Load: 15.3 t ADT: 50

T 150

Poor

Over: ROBINSON CREEK

0.5 MI S OF CO LINE, Mower, MN

Built 1917 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 4

T 122

Poor

Over: STREAM

0.3 MI S OF CO LINE, Mower, MN

Built 1917 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 12

T 124

Poor

Over: STREAM

0.4 MI N OF JCT CSAH 2, Mower, MN

Built 1917 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 20

CSAH 7

Poor

Over: STREAM

2.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 2, Mower, MN

Built 1967 Load: 18.0 t ADT: 285

T 263

Poor

Over: STREAM

1.6 MI N OF JCT CSAH 2, Mower, MN

Built 1926 Load: 19.2 t ADT: 4

CR 60

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

0.1 MI E OF JCT CSAH 20, Mower, MN

Built 1931 Load: 19.3 t ADT: 20

MSAS 134

Poor

Over: DOBBINS CREEK

0.1 MI S OF OAKLAND PL, Mower, MN

Built 1932 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 3,700

CR 59

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

0.7 MI W OF JCT CSAH 13, Mower, MN

Built 1931 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 45

M 279

Poor

Over: DOBBINS CREEK

0.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 46, Mower, MN

Built 1959 Load: 21.2 t ADT: 250

T 68

Poor

Over: WOODBURY CREEK

0.8 MI N OF JCT CSAH 6, Mower, MN

Built 1965 Load: 22.2 t ADT: 49

T 128

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

4.4 MI S OF JCT CSAH 2, Mower, MN

Built 1917 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 8

MN 56

Poor

Over: STREAM

2.5 MI W OF JCT CSAH 14, Mower, MN

Built 1940 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 1,301

I 90

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

4.0 MI E OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1959 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 13,166

I 90

Poor

Over: N FK BEAR CREEK

4.7 MI NE OF JCT TH 16, Mower, MN

Built 1961 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 10,728

T 18

Poor

Over: ROSE CREEK

0.3 MI W OF JCT CSAH 19, Mower, MN

Built 1976 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 29

CSAH 20

Poor

Over: I 90

3.8 MI E OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1960 Load: 31.2 t ADT: 250

CSAH 7

Poor

Over: LITTLE CEDAR RIVER

0.1 MI S OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1975 Load: 32.2 t ADT: 1,300

US 218

Poor

Over: I 90

AT THE E JCT TH 218, Mower, MN

Built 1959 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 3,900

MN 16

Poor

Over: DEER CREEK

3.3 MI W OF W JCT TH 63, Mower, MN

Built 1977 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 2,550

CSAH 14

Poor

Over: UPPER IOWA RIVER

0.2 MI N OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1955 Load: 34.6 t ADT: 1,400

CSAH 13

Poor

Over: DEER CREEK

1.4 MI W OF JCT CSAH 8, Mower, MN

Built 1977 Load: 35.0 t ADT: 90

CSAH 13

Poor

Over: I 90

6.0 MI E OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1960 Load: 37.4 t ADT: 375

MN 105

Poor

Over: I 90

AT THE JCT TH 105, Mower, MN

Built 1959 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 5,777

CSAH 9

Poor

Over: N BR UPPER IOWA RIVER

0.1 MI S OF JCT TH 56, Mower, MN

Built 1974 Load: 47.0 t ADT: 65

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.