The Commissioner of Transportation is responsible for all bridges on the State Trunk Highway system and the Federal Interstate Highway system. The county highway engineer is responsible for all county bridges, township bridges, and city bridges within cities that do not have a regularly employed city engineer. The city engineer is responsible for all bridges on the city street system.

Each agency with responsibility for bridge inspection and inventory must designate a program administrator to oversee the bridge inspection program. This will typically be the county engineer or the city engineer, but could be a private consultant engineer (appointed by the agency). A program administrator must be certified as a professional engineer in the state of Minnesota, and must regularly attend Bridge Inspection refresher seminars (conducted by the Mn/DOT Bridge Office). A program administrator may (or may not be) certified as a bridge inspection team leader.

A certified bridge inspection team leader must be present during inspections of in-service bridges & culverts on the state, county, and local highway system. There are two ways to qualify as a bridge inspection team leader:

1. Be a registered professional engineer in the state of Minnesota, successfully complete a FHWA approved comprehensive bridge inspection training course, and pass a field proficiency test (administered by the Mn/DOT Bridge Office).
2. Have five years bridge inspection experience, successfully complete a FHWA approved comprehensive bridge inspection training course, and pass a field proficiency test (administered by the Mn/DOT Bridge Office).

Certification must be renewed every 4 years. To maintain certification, bridge inspection team leaders must remain active in bridge inspection and attend at least two bridge inspection refresher seminars (conducted by the Mn/DOT Bridge Office) during the four preceding years.

Bridges and culverts must be inspected annually (12 month interval), unless a 2 year (24 month) interval is authorized by the Commissioner. Each county or municipal authority responsible for inspection of bridges must submit all required inspection data (and updated inventory data) to the Commissioner of Transportation by February 15 annually.

Each highway agency responsible for bridge inspection shall certify to the Commissioner of Transportation annually that all bridges have been inspected, that qualified personnel were used to perform these inspections, and (if applicable) that inspection reports were filed with (a) the county auditor, (b) township clerk, or (c) governing body of the municipality in those cities which do not employ an engineer to perform such inspections. The Certificate of Bridge Inspection form is available online (PDF).