County profile · official public datasets

Cochise County, AZ

501 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.3% rated Good, 42.5% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

501
Public bridges: 55.3%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Cochise County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

10th
of 15 on Poor share: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 501
public highway bridges: 1956
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.

Cochise County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cochise County ranks #10 of 15 Arizona counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Cochise County, Arizona contains 501 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.3% are rated “Good,” 42.5% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

501

Public highway bridges in Cochise County

Good condition

55.3%

277 of 501 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.5%

213 of 501 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

11 of 501 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 15

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

Condition distribution

Share of 501 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.3% (277)

Fair

42.5% (213)

Poor

2.2% (11)

Cochise County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,174 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,289 crossings a day against 12,135 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 501 of 501 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

87.6% of Cochise County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

439 of the 501 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 55.3% 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 43.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 80 over San Pedro River, built 1960, carries 6,156 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 14,174 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

4
1920s

19
1930s

104
1940s

63
1950s

71
1960s

143
1970s

38
1980s

19
1990s

10
2000s

16
2010s

10
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 143 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1956, 21 years older than the Arizona average of 1977.

How Cochise County compares with Arizona's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Arizona counties nearest Cochise County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1956 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 14 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 14 Arizona counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cochise County and the 5 Arizona counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pinal County	716	63.5%	35.5%	1%	1973
Mohave County	641	71.6%	27.8%	0.6%	1976
Yavapai County	543	63.2%	36.3%	0.6%	1970
Cochise County (this page)	501	55.3%	42.5%	2.2%	1956
Coconino County	405	51.9%	46.9%	1.2%	1969
La Paz County	306	64.1%	32.4%	3.6%	1961

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AZ (501 bridges here).

Ventura County, CA · 501 bridges
Lake County, IN · 501 bridges
Snohomish County, WA · 500 bridges
Garfield County, OK · 504 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AZ (1956 here).

Philadelphia County, PA · avg 1956 · 585 bridges
Hampden County, MA · avg 1956 · 428 bridges
Stanislaus County, CA · avg 1956 · 386 bridges
Washington County, MD · avg 1956 · 300 bridges

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

All 501 Good 277 Fair 213 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (277)

Sort:

Cochise County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cochise County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,174 vehicle crossings a day

87.6% of Cochise County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 43.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cochise County compares with Arizona'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 (277)

WEST TURKEY CREEK

GERONIMO TRAIL

TEX CANYON

TEX CANYON

ONION SADDLE

WEST TURKEY CREEK

A Avenue

SR 80

SR B 10

SR 80

SR 80

SR 80

J6 Ranch Road

SR 80

SR 80

SR 80

Hereford Road

ONION SADDLE

SR 90

SR 80

SR 80

SR 80

SR 80

US 191

I 10; Frontage Rd

Ramsey Canyon Road

SR 80

SR 92

SR 186

I 10; EB & WB

SR 80

SR 80

SB 10

SB 10

SB 10

SB 10

SB 10

SB 10

I 10; Ramp

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; North Fr Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; North Front

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

I 10; Frontage Rd

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