County profile · official public datasets

Gila County, AZ

259 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.2% rated Good, 37.5% Fair, 2.3% Poor.

259
Public bridges: 60.2%
Good condition: 2.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

11th
of 15 on Poor share: 2.3%
Poor-condition share: 259
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Gila County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gila County ranks #11 of 15 Arizona counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Gila County, Arizona contains 259 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.2% are rated “Good,” 37.5% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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

259

Public highway bridges in Gila County

Good condition

60.2%

156 of 259 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.5%

97 of 259 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.3%

6 of 259 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#11 of 15

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

Condition distribution

Share of 259 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.2% (156)

Fair

37.5% (97)

Poor

2.3% (6)

Gila County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,662 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,110 crossings a day against 3,181 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 259 of 259 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

44.4% of Gila County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

115 of the 259 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 60.2% 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 77.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Jesse Hayes Rd over Pinal Creek, built 1920, carries 5,162 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,662 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

3
1920s

14
1930s

26
1940s

8
1950s

37
1960s

13
1970s

28
1980s

18
1990s

46
2000s

41
2010s

22
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Arizona average (1977).

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

The 5 Arizona counties nearest Gila County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1967 is 8 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gila County and the 5 Arizona counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
La Paz County	306	64.1%	32.4%	3.6%	1961
Navajo County	277	52.7%	45.1%	2.2%	1972
Yuma County	262	50.4%	47.7%	1.9%	1973
Apache County	259	48.3%	45.9%	5.8%	1973
Gila County (this page)	259	60.2%	37.5%	2.3%	1975
Graham County	179	44.1%	52%	3.9%	1954

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AZ (259 bridges here).

Ellsworth County, KS · 259 bridges
Hampshire County, MA · 259 bridges
Dakota County, MN · 259 bridges
Lafayette County, MS · 259 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AZ (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 259 Good 156 Fair 97 Poor 6

All bridges (259)

Sort:

Gila County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gila County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,662 vehicle crossings a day

44.4% of Gila County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 77.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gila 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

All bridges (259)

SR 77

SR 77

SR 77

Main Street

SR 260

Bridge Road

SR 77

SR 188

SR 188

SR 260

SR 188

IRR US 60

IRR US 60

IRR US 60

US 60

US 60

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR SR 73

SR 77

SR 77

SR 77

SR 288

SR 87

SR 88

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 87

SR 288

SR 87

SR 87 NB

SR 87 SB

SR 87 NB

SR 87 SB

Gisela Median X-Rd

SR 87 NB

SR 87

SR 87

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 288

SR 188

Related