County profile · official public datasets

Winona County, MN

237 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43% rated Good, 52.3% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

237
Public bridges: 43%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

52nd
of 87 on Poor share: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 237
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Winona County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Winona County ranks #52 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Winona County, Minnesota contains 237 public highway bridges. Roughly 43% are rated “Good,” 52.3% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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

237

Public highway bridges in Winona County

Good condition

43%

102 of 237 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.3%

124 of 237 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

11 of 237 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 87

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

Condition distribution

Share of 237 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43% (102)

Fair

52.3% (124)

Poor

4.6% (11)

Winona County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,953 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 905 crossings a day against 2,005 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 237 of 237 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

35.4% of Winona County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

84 of the 237 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 43% 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 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

OR 2 over I 90, built 1969, carries 3,450 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,953 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

4
1920s

4
1930s

9
1940s

5
1950s

15
1960s

36
1970s

43
1980s

25
1990s

20
2000s

33
2010s

34
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Minnesota average (1986).

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

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Winona County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 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 Winona County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Winona County (this page)	237	43%	52.3%	4.6%	1982
Lyon County	234	75.2%	21.8%	3%	1983
Stearns County	229	54.6%	42.8%	2.6%	1981
Faribault County	226	50.9%	44.7%	4.4%	1986
Clay County	225	53.8%	40.4%	5.8%	1984
Yellow Medicine County	218	67.4%	29.8%	2.8%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (237 bridges here).

Hawaii County, HI · 237 bridges
DeKalb County, MO · 237 bridges
Boone County, NE · 237 bridges
Gallia County, OH · 237 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 237 Good 102 Fair 124 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (102)

Sort:

Winona County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Winona County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,953 vehicle crossings a day

35.4% of Winona County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 34.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Winona 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 (102)

T 58

T 118

CSAH 10

MSAS 125

US 61

CSAH 7

I 90

CSAH 39

CSAH 2

CSAH 15

I 90

MN 43

T 127

T 311

CSAH 19

T 336

T 205

T 264

T 309

CSAH 25

M 1

MN 76

T 199

CSAH 9

CON 5609

T 58

CSAH 23

T 163

T 302

I 90

I 90

T 804

T 192

CSAH 30

CSAH 12

CSAH 43

I 90

T 804

I 90

MN 74

CR 120

CSAH 26

US 14

T 150

CSAH 37

CSAH 27

CSAH 33

T 77

T 165

CSAH 9

Related