County profile · official public datasets

Scott County, MN

129 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.9% rated Good, 33.3% Fair, 0.8% Poor.

129
Public bridges: 65.9%
Good condition: 0.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Scott County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 6%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.8%
Poor-condition share: 129
public highway bridges: 1993
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.

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Scott County ranks #5 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.8%). Scott County, Minnesota contains 129 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.9% are rated “Good,” 33.3% “Fair,” and 0.8% “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

129

Public highway bridges in Scott County

Good condition

65.9%

85 of 129 rated 7-9

Fair condition

33.3%

43 of 129 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.8%

1 of 129 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 129 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.9% (85)

Fair

33.3% (43)

Poor

0.8% (1)

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 280 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 280 crossings a day against 8,525 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 129 of 129 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

16.3% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

21 of the 129 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 65.9% 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 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 64 over SAND CREEK, built 1965, carries 280 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 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 280 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

3
1950s

5
1960s

9
1970s

8
1980s

7
1990s

49
2000s

22
2010s

19
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 49 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 38% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1993, 7 years newer than the Minnesota average of 1986.

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Scott County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1993 against a peer-group mean of 1988 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Scott County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Renville County	141	66%	24.1%	9.9%	1991
Todd County	136	75.7%	21.3%	2.9%	1990
Murray County	134	81.3%	13.4%	5.2%	1986
Steele County	134	57.5%	41%	1.5%	1987
Scott County (this page)	129	65.9%	33.3%	0.8%	1993
Traverse County	121	65.3%	33.1%	1.7%	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 Scott 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 Scott County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (129 bridges here).

Clay County, AL · 129 bridges
Cross County, AR · 129 bridges
Lake County, CA · 129 bridges
Lincoln County, CO · 129 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1993 here).

Salt Lake County, UT · avg 1993 · 659 bridges
Marshall County, MS · avg 1993 · 255 bridges
Rowan County, NC · avg 1993 · 245 bridges
Cabarrus County, NC · avg 1993 · 236 bridges

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

All 129 Good 85 Fair 43 Poor 1

All bridges (129)

Sort:

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 280 vehicle crossings a day

16.3% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Scott 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

All bridges (129)

CSAH 15

MSAS 122

M 439

M 319

CSAH 8

CSAH 69

MN 21

MSAS 101

CSAH 11

T 58

T 365

CSAH 11

T 871

CSAH 8

T 44

T 164

T 53

MN 25

US 169

US 169

MN 13

MSAS 115

MSAS 108

CSAH 101

MSAS 126

M 448

T 908

CSAH 8

CSAH 16

T 34

CR 62

CR 89

T 14

CSAH 15

T 163

CSAH 15

CR 56

MSAS 104

CSAH 7

CSAH 21

CSAH 101

US 169

US 169

MSAS 108

US 169

MN 21

CSAH 101

MSAS 116

M 632

M 197

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