County profile · official public datasets

Rice County, MN

142 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.8% rated Good, 56.3% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

142
Public bridges: 40.8%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 37%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 142
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.

Rice County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Rice County ranks #32 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Rice County, Minnesota contains 142 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.8% are rated “Good,” 56.3% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

142

Public highway bridges in Rice County

Good condition

40.8%

58 of 142 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.3%

80 of 142 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

4 of 142 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#32 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 142 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.8% (58)

Fair

56.3% (80)

Poor

2.8% (4)

Rice County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,085 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,521 crossings a day against 1,341 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 142 of 142 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.9% of Rice County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

51 of the 142 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 40.8% 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.

One structure carries 71.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MN 19 over CANNON RIVER, built 1973, carries 7,179 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,085 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1930s

1
1940s

5
1950s

10
1960s

19
1970s

26
1980s

9
1990s

11
2000s

36
2010s

18
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 36 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Rice County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Rice County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carlton County	147	51.7%	39.5%	8.8%	1986
Wabasha County	147	60.5%	39.5%	0%	1985
Freeborn County	142	50.7%	46.5%	2.8%	1981
Roseau County	142	69.7%	27.5%	2.8%	1989
Rice County (this page)	142	40.8%	56.3%	2.8%	1986
Renville County	141	66%	24.1%	9.9%	1991

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (142 bridges here).

Monroe County, AL · 142 bridges
Henderson County, IL · 142 bridges
Graham County, KS · 142 bridges
Kenton County, KY · 142 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 142 Good 58 Fair 80 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (58)

Sort:

Rice County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Rice County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,085 vehicle crossings a day

35.9% of Rice County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 71.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Rice 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 (58)

MN 246

CSAH 23

CR 59

MSAS 113

T 187

MSAS 124

T 50

CSAH 93

MN 3

MSAS 103

MSAS 125

T 186

CR 59

CR 210

CR 59

T 108

CSAH 21

CSAH 30

T 424

T 180

CSAH 15

CR 137

T 114

CR 80

T 847

T 187

MN 60

MSAS 124

M 293

CSAH 11

MSAS 117

M 325

M 309

CSAH 19

T 164

CSAH 16

CSAH 26

CSAH 42

T 50

T 160

CR 80

MN 60

CSAH 31

CSAH 31

CSAH 76

T 425

CSAH 23

CR 88

T 131

CSAH 13

Related