County profile · official public datasets

Wabasha County, MN

147 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.5% rated Good, 39.5% Fair, 0% Poor.

147
Public bridges: 60.5%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Wabasha County posts a top-1% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 1%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 147
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Wabasha County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wabasha County ranks #1 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Wabasha County, Minnesota contains 147 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.5% are rated “Good,” 39.5% “Fair,” and 0% “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

147

Public highway bridges in Wabasha County

Good condition

60.5%

89 of 147 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.5%

58 of 147 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 147 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#1 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 147 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.5% (89)

Fair

39.5% (58)

Poor

0% (0)

23.8% of Wabasha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

35 of the 147 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 60.5% 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.

1910s

2
1920s

4
1930s

10
1940s

1
1950s

3
1960s

7
1970s

22
1980s

30
1990s

28
2000s

11
2010s

25
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Wabasha County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 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 Wabasha County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Anoka County	151	55%	40.4%	4.6%	1990
Cottonwood County	151	74.8%	23.8%	1.3%	1981
Norman County	149	75.2%	21.5%	3.4%	1983
Otter Tail County	149	40.9%	52.3%	6.7%	1980
Carlton County	147	51.7%	39.5%	8.8%	1986
Wabasha County (this page)	147	60.5%	39.5%	0%	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 Wabasha 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 Wabasha County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (147 bridges here).

Barren County, KY · 147 bridges
Avoyelles County, LA · 147 bridges
Marquette County, MI · 147 bridges
Craven County, NC · 147 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 147 Good 89 Fair 58 Poor 0

Good-condition bridges (89)

Sort:

Wabasha County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

23.8% of Wabasha County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Wabasha 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 (89)

CSAH 32

T 5

CSAH 4

CSAH 30

CSAH 5

US 61

T 18

MN 60

T 185

T 56

T 59

T 271

US 61

T 44

CSAH 2

CR 75

CSAH 5

T 100

CR 6

CSAH 10

CSAH 4

CR 86

US 63

MN 74

CR 68

CSAH 4

MN 60

M 103

US 61

CSAH 11

CSAH 5

SFR 1

T 123

US 61

T 117

MN 60

CSAH 4

T 93

T 959

T 11

CSAH 2

CSAH 2

MN 60

CSAH 7

MN 42

MN 60

US 61

CR 82

T 37

T 216

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