County profile · official public datasets

Redwood County, MN

200 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53% rated Good, 36.5% Fair, 10.5% Poor.

200
Public bridges: 53%
Good condition: 10.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

85th
of 87 on Poor share: 10.5%
Poor-condition share: 200
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Redwood County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Redwood County ranks #85 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.5%). Redwood County, Minnesota contains 200 public highway bridges. Roughly 53% are rated “Good,” 36.5% “Fair,” and 10.5% “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

200

Public highway bridges in Redwood County

Good condition

53%

106 of 200 rated 7-9

Fair condition

36.5%

73 of 200 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.5%

21 of 200 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#85 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 200 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53% (106)

Fair

36.5% (73)

Poor

10.5% (21)

Redwood County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,215 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 105 crossings a day against 453 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 200 of 200 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

28% of Redwood County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 200 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 53% 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 28.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CSAH 5 over STREAM, built 1977, carries 630 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,215 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

4
1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

2
1950s

7
1960s

22
1970s

35
1980s

21
1990s

25
2000s

30
2010s

27
2020s

17

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 35 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Redwood County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Redwood County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Yellow Medicine County	218	67.4%	29.8%	2.8%	1984
Marshall County	215	72.1%	26.5%	1.4%	1988
Redwood County (this page)	200	53%	36.5%	10.5%	1986
Wilkin County	196	80.6%	15.3%	4.1%	1989
Blue Earth County	193	49.7%	43%	7.3%	1982
Pipestone County	185	64.9%	31.9%	3.2%	1998

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (200 bridges here).

Escambia County, AL · 200 bridges
Clay County, AR · 200 bridges
Parke County, IN · 200 bridges
Fayette County, KY · 200 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 200 Good 106 Fair 73 Poor 21

Poor-condition bridges (21)

Sort:

Redwood County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Redwood County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,215 vehicle crossings a day

28% of Redwood County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Redwood 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 (21)

CR 51

CSAH 7

CSAH 17

M 22

T 126

M 22

CR 71

T 96

CSAH 10

CSAH 5

T 132

T 147

T 160

T 336

T 119

T 36

CSAH 4

T 181

T 179

T 221

CR 70

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