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.

1910s

8
1920s

9
1930s

11
1940s

4
1950s

20
1960s

25
1970s

45
1980s

30
1990s

44
2000s

64
2010s

63
2020s

20

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).

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	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Olmsted County	365	64.1%	34.5%	1.4%	1985
Fillmore County	348	33.3%	63.8%	2.9%	1984
Mower County (this page)	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 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).

Wayne County, IN · 343 bridges
Norfolk County, MA · 343 bridges
Albany County, NY · 343 bridges
Shelby County, AL · 344 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Licking County, OH · avg 1988 · 439 bridges

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

All bridges (343)

Sort:

Mower County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 28.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mower 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 (343)

T 110

T 69

T 359

T 107

T 221

T 131

CSAH 6

T 114

MN 105

T 159

CSAH 12

MSAS 105

T 48

T 92

T 50

US 218

T 251

CSAH 20

CSAH 6

CSAH 11

CSAH 6

T 176

CSAH 1

T 385

CSAH 14

CSAH 24

CSAH 16

T 47

T 225

MN 56

M 14

MN 105

T 240

MN 56

CSAH 20

CSAH 13

T 298

CSAH 2

T 107

T 328

CSAH 6

T 247

T 53

US 63

CSAH 25

I 90

I 90

CSAH 45

CSAH 8

MN 16

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