Sen. Franken Releases County-by-County Report on MN Bridges in Need of Repair
Investing in Bridge, Road Maintenance will Help Put Minnesotans Back to Work
Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) released a report showing that more than one thousand Minnesota bridges - nearly one in ten across the state – are structurally deficient, and said investments in rebuilding those bridges would put thousands of Minnesotans back to work—especially those in the field of construction, which has experienced far higher unemployment that most other professions.
"Minnesota has so many men and women in construction who are on the bench—and have been for a long time—and so many projects in need of their skills. We should get them back to work rebuilding roads and bridges across the state that are in need of repair," said Sen. Franken. “While we’re going to have to make some big cuts in our spending, we shouldn’t cut the things we know will help our economy get back on its feet. Investing in infrastructure is a great way to grow our economy, put people back to work, and take care of much-needed work on our state's roads and bridges."
Below is a county-by-county breakdown of the full report, which can be found here.
| County | Number of bridges | Number of structurally deficient bridges | Percentage of bridges that are structurally deficient | Bridge average annual daily traffic | Average annual daily traffic on deficient bridges |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aitkin County | 100 | 12 | 12.00% | 112,710 | 2,508 |
| Anoka County | 138 | 4 | 2.90% | 2,662,439 | 25,376 |
| Becker County | 52 | 6 | 11.50% | 63,138 | 637 |
| Beltrami County | 92 | 5 | 5.40% | 117,332 | 5,672 |
| Benton County | 115 | 3 | 2.60% | 239,478 | 93 |
| Big Stone County | 15 | 1 | 6.70% | 12,889 | 4,200 |
| Blue Earth County | 191 | 6 | 3.10% | 561,765 | 3,078 |
| Brown County | 111 | 9 | 8.10% | 90,845 | 2,469 |
| Carlton County | 134 | 18 | 13.40% | 417,615 | 15,174 |
| Carver County | 115 | 17 | 14.80% | 692,895 | 44,211 |
| Cass County | 77 | 2 | 2.60% | 119,543 | 3,840 |
| Chippewa County | 122 | 17 | 13.90% | 82,332 | 3,794 |
| Chisago County | 58 | 5 | 8.60% | 183,830 | 6,170 |
| Clay County | 227 | 22 | 9.70% | 476,996 | 4,329 |
| Clearwater County | 49 | 3 | 6.10% | 22,854 | 2,991 |
| Cook County | 49 | 7 | 14.30% | 44,775 | 560 |
| Cottonwood County | 150 | 12 | 8.00% | 53,876 | 4,125 |
| Crow Wing County | 69 | 3 | 4.30% | 155,800 | 269 |
| Dakota County | 237 | 2 | 0.80% | 3,032,938 | 32,625 |
| Dodge County | 169 | 8 | 4.70% | 148,770 | 8,929 |
| Douglas County | 41 | 4 | 9.80% | 146,903 | 29,150 |
| Faribault County | 222 | 28 | 12.60% | 123,658 | 6,539 |
| Fillmore County | 336 | 51 | 15.20% | 159,136 | 14,740 |
| Freeborn County | 141 | 6 | 4.30% | 427,934 | 1,433 |
| Goodhue County | 323 | 27 | 8.40% | 607,160 | 33,251 |
| Grant County | 32 | 3 | 9.40% | 91,258 | 1,216 |
| Hennepin County | 842 | 48 | 5.70% | 17,452,513 | 491,462 |
| Houston County | 160 | 29 | 18.10% | 201,122 | 3,858 |
| Hubbard County | 41 | 7 | 17.10% | 52,981 | 3,965 |
| Isanti County | 37 | 2 | 5.40% | 80,517 | 2,680 |
| Itasca County | 159 | 13 | 8.20% | 194,970 | 3,577 |
| Jackson County | 190 | 23 | 12.10% | 95,999 | 2,530 |
| Kanabec County | 78 | 0 | 0.00% | 80,844 | 0 |
| Kandiyohi County | 88 | 5 | 5.70% | 139,923 | 1,146 |
| Kittson County | 159 | 9 | 5.70% | 33,075 | 2,414 |
| Koochiching County | 94 | 4 | 4.30% | 45,990 | 180 |
| Lac qui Parle County | 169 | 13 | 7.70% | 38,206 | 2,240 |
| Lake County | 77 | 5 | 6.50% | 87,697 | 7,543 |
| Lake of the Woods County | 61 | 1 | 1.60% | 25,815 | 784 |
| Le Sueur County | 67 | 3 | 4.50% | 105,693 | 4,543 |
| Lincoln County | 102 | 20 | 19.60% | 47,869 | 986 |
| Lyon County | 233 | 9 | 3.90% | 161,953 | 3,185 |
| Mahnomen County | 41 | 2 | 4.90% | 13,371 | 14 |
| Marshall County | 215 | 15 | 7.00% | 46,546 | 1,908 |
| Martin County | 161 | 12 | 7.50% | 225,036 | 3,002 |
| McLeod County | 75 | 5 | 6.70% | 124,120 | 2,961 |
| Meeker County | 62 | 1 | 1.60% | 49,180 | 24 |
| Mille Lacs County | 108 | 5 | 4.60% | 293,803 | 13,135 |
| Morrison County | 167 | 11 | 6.60% | 229,682 | 2,214 |
| Mower County | 327 | 77 | 23.50% | 330,010 | 68,466 |
| Murray County | 129 | 8 | 6.20% | 29,872 | 350 |
| Nicollet County | 48 | 3 | 6.30% | 138,823 | 8,199 |
| Nobles County | 300 | 8 | 2.70% | 160,479 | 1,151 |
| Norman County | 151 | 16 | 10.60% | 40,939 | 6,624 |
| Olmsted County | 351 | 16 | 4.60% | 1,755,790 | 33,349 |
| Otter Tail County | 146 | 15 | 10.30% | 280,513 | 15,480 |
| Pennington County | 51 | 2 | 3.90% | 49,866 | 6 |
| Pine County | 162 | 11 | 6.80% | 273,537 | 27,782 |
| Pipestone County | 177 | 39 | 22.00% | 70,607 | 5,740 |
| Polk County | 259 | 10 | 3.90% | 147,285 | 1,481 |
| Pope County | 44 | 2 | 4.50% | 17,259 | 3,345 |
| Ramsey County | 317 | 27 | 8.50% | 7,890,402 | 987,272 |
| Red Lake County | 58 | 2 | 3.40% | 22,616 | 1,977 |
| Redwood County | 194 | 34 | 17.50% | 103,739 | 10,470 |
| Renville County | 136 | 27 | 19.90% | 64,087 | 3,311 |
| Rice County | 142 | 10 | 7.00% | 563,252 | 21,517 |
| Rock County | 251 | 33 | 13.10% | 184,989 | 17,300 |
| Roseau County | 137 | 20 | 14.60% | 64,204 | 682 |
| Scott County | 102 | 4 | 3.90% | 1,017,301 | 3,193 |
| Sherburne County | 46 | 4 | 8.70% | 237,302 | 26,022 |
| Sibley County | 102 | 27 | 26.50% | 95,987 | 9,266 |
| St. Louis County | 682 | 100 | 14.70% | 2,118,740 | 150,948 |
| Stearns County | 216 | 3 | 1.40% | 1,144,503 | 866 |
| Steele County | 128 | 7 | 5.50% | 502,158 | 10,439 |
| Stevens County | 45 | 0 | 0.00% | 23,997 | 0 |
| Swift County | 97 | 16 | 16.50% | 42,246 | 3,837 |
| Todd County | 131 | 9 | 6.90% | 100,418 | 4,553 |
| Traverse County | 120 | 10 | 8.30% | 15,553 | 654 |
| Wabasha County | 147 | 7 | 4.80% | 148,170 | 6,406 |
| Wadena County | 70 | 3 | 4.30% | 46,897 | 1,125 |
| Waseca County | 75 | 8 | 10.70% | 50,488 | 3,779 |
| Washington County | 96 | 6 | 6.30% | 1,603,385 | 96,974 |
| Watonwan County | 167 | 6 | 3.60% | 93,330 | 1,331 |
| Wilkin County | 197 | 13 | 6.60% | 69,604 | 2,102 |
| Winona County | 223 | 20 | 9.00% | 494,923 | 30,257 |
| Wright County | 72 | 5 | 6.90% | 488,524 | 56,560 |
| Yellow Medicine County | 220 | 18 | 8.20% | 96,494 | 1,487 |
| Totals | 13,067 | 1,149 | 8.80% | 51,254,063 | 2,436,031 |