County profile · official public datasets

Ramsey County, MN

341 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.5% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 6.5% Poor.

341
Public bridges: 35.5%
Good condition: 6.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

64th
of 87 on Poor share: 6.5%
Poor-condition share: 341
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.

Ramsey County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ramsey County ranks #64 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.5%). Ramsey County, Minnesota contains 341 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.5% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “Fair,” and 6.5% “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

341

Public highway bridges in Ramsey County

Good condition

35.5%

121 of 341 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.1%

198 of 341 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.5%

22 of 341 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 341 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

35.5% (121)

Fair

58.1% (198)

Poor

6.5% (22)

Ramsey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 234,142 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,643 crossings a day against 24,333 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 341 of 341 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.5% of Ramsey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

145 of the 341 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 35.5% 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 18.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 36 over I 35W, built 1964, carries 42,500 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 234,142 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

3
1910s

1
1920s

6
1930s

6
1940s

1
1950s

14
1960s

88
1970s

33
1980s

43
1990s

38
2000s

33
2010s

65
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 88 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Ramsey County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ramsey 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	343	44.6%	47.2%	8.2%	1988
Ramsey County (this page)	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 Ramsey 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 Ramsey County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (341 bridges here).

Vernon County, LA · 341 bridges
Stephenson County, IL · 342 bridges
Winneshiek County, IA · 342 bridges
Noble County, OK · 342 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 341 Good 121 Fair 198 Poor 22

Poor-condition bridges (22)

Sort:

Ramsey County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ramsey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 234,142 vehicle crossings a day

42.5% of Ramsey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ramsey 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

Poor-condition bridges (22)

LOC 1

M 1596

CSAH 77

MSAS 154

MSAS 154

MSAS 108

MSAS 158

MSAS 135

CSAH 55

M 2167

US 61

CSAH 23

MSAS 180

MSAS 113

MN 3

CSAH 49

MN 280

MSAS 233

MSAS 158

MSAS 158

UNM 88

MN 36

Related