County profile · official public datasets

Pipestone County, MN

185 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.9% rated Good, 31.9% Fair, 3.2% Poor.

185
Public bridges: 64.9%
Good condition: 3.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pipestone County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 44%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.2%
Poor-condition share: 185
public highway bridges: 1998
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.

Pipestone County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pipestone County ranks #38 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.2%). Pipestone County, Minnesota contains 185 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.9% are rated “Good,” 31.9% “Fair,” and 3.2% “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

185

Public highway bridges in Pipestone County

Good condition

64.9%

120 of 185 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31.9%

59 of 185 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.2%

6 of 185 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 185 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

64.9% (120)

Fair

31.9% (59)

Poor

3.2% (6)

Pipestone County's Poor-condition bridges carry 675 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 113 crossings a day against 307 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 185 of 185 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

24 of the 185 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 64.9% 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 70.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 22 over MAIN DITCH, built 1970, carries 475 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 675 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

10
1940s

6
1950s

1
1960s

4
1970s

9
1980s

6
1990s

40
2000s

37
2010s

48
2020s

24

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1998, 12 years newer than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Pipestone County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1998 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 13 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pipestone County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wilkin County	196	80.6%	15.3%	4.1%	1989
Blue Earth County	193	49.7%	43%	7.3%	1982
Pipestone County (this page)	185	64.9%	31.9%	3.2%	1998
Jackson County	182	67%	30.2%	2.7%	1986
Dodge County	177	46.9%	44.1%	9%	1983
Lac qui Parle County	174	73%	19.5%	7.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (185 bridges here).

Chambers County, AL · 185 bridges
Maui County, HI · 185 bridges
Lawrence County, IL · 185 bridges
Saline County, IL · 185 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1998 here).

Collin County, TX · avg 1998 · 1,127 bridges
Orange County, FL · avg 1998 · 885 bridges
Fort Bend County, TX · avg 1998 · 795 bridges
Montgomery County, TX · avg 1998 · 710 bridges

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

All 185 Good 120 Fair 59 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (59)

Sort:

Pipestone County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pipestone County's Poor-condition bridges carry 675 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 70.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pipestone 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 (59)

T 277

CSAH 1

T 288

CSAH 15

CR 59

CSAH 4

MN 23

MN 30

US 75

MN 23

MN 23

MN 23

MN 30

MN 30

MN 23

MN 23

CSAH 18

T 29

T 259

T 18

MN 23

T 263

T 263

T 112

CSAH 18

T 64

CSAH 18

T 101

T 125

T 22

T 66

T 92

T 3

CSAH 16

T 282

CSAH 6

T 265

T 275

CSAH 25

T 276

T 255

T 5

T 14

T 255

T 296

T 58

CSAH 9

CSAH 2

T 182

T 253

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