County profile · official public datasets

Nicollet County, MN

54 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 77.8% rated Good, 22.2% Fair, 0% Poor.

54
Public bridges: 77.8%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Nicollet County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 2%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 54
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

Nicollet County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Nicollet County ranks #2 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Nicollet County, Minnesota contains 54 public highway bridges. Roughly 77.8% are rated “Good,” 22.2% “Fair,” and 0% “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

Public highway bridges in Nicollet County

Good condition

77.8%

42 of 54 rated 7-9

Fair condition

22.2%

12 of 54 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 54 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 54 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

77.8% (42)

Fair

22.2% (12)

Poor

0% (0)

13% of Nicollet County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

7 of the 54 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 77.8% 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.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1960s

2
1970s

5
1980s

5
1990s

21
2000s

7
2010s

5
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 21 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 9 years newer than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Nicollet County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1987 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Nicollet County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Red Lake County	59	67.8%	30.5%	1.7%	1985
Cook County	58	55.2%	39.7%	5.2%	1988
Nicollet County (this page)	54	77.8%	22.2%	0%	1995
Becker County	53	79.2%	18.9%	1.9%	1995
Clearwater County	50	50%	50%	0%	1981
Pennington County	49	75.5%	22.4%	2%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (54 bridges here).

Rio Blanco County, CO · 54 bridges
Brantley County, GA · 54 bridges
Jones County, GA · 54 bridges
Larue County, KY · 54 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Craighead County, AR · avg 1995 · 442 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges

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

All 54 Good 42 Fair 12 Poor 0

Good-condition bridges (42)

Sort:

Nicollet County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

13% of Nicollet County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Nicollet 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

Good-condition bridges (42)

MN 22

CSAH 21

CSAH 41

T 213

UNU 169

T 13

US 14

T 882

MN 15

CSAH 37

CSAH 10

US 14

MN 111

US 14

US 169

CSAH 41

T 40

T 510

CSAH 4

T 21

T 25

CSAH 41

T 76

CSAH 21

CSAH 21

CSAH 21

CSAH 15

CSAH 19

CSAH 21

CR 60

T 25

CSAH 15

CR 71

T 39

T 92

CR 52

MN 99

CSAH 3

US 169

T 171

US 169

CSAH 4

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