County profile · official public datasets

Graham County, AZ

179 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.1% rated Good, 52% Fair, 3.9% Poor.

179
Public bridges: 44.1%
Good condition: 3.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Graham 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.

13th
of 15 on Poor share: 3.9%
Poor-condition share: 179
public highway bridges: 1954
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.

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Graham County ranks #13 of 15 Arizona counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Graham County, Arizona contains 179 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.1% are rated “Good,” 52% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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

179

Public highway bridges in Graham County

Good condition

44.1%

79 of 179 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52%

93 of 179 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.9%

7 of 179 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 15

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

Condition distribution

Share of 179 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.1% (79)

Fair

52% (93)

Poor

3.9% (7)

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,184 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 169 crossings a day against 2,144 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 179 of 179 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

81.6% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

146 of the 179 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 44.1% 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 32.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IRR BIA RTE 3 over KELLY GULCH, built 1929, carries 390 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,184 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

6
1920s

32
1930s

29
1940s

15
1950s

37
1960s

21
1970s

7
1980s

10
1990s

9
2000s

4
2010s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1954, 23 years older than the Arizona average of 1977.

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

The 5 Arizona counties nearest Graham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1954 against a peer-group mean of 1969 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Graham County and the 5 Arizona counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Yuma County	262	50.4%	47.7%	1.9%	1973
Apache County	259	48.3%	45.9%	5.8%	1973
Gila County	259	60.2%	37.5%	2.3%	1975
Graham County (this page)	179	44.1%	52%	3.9%	1954
Santa Cruz County	138	55.8%	42.8%	1.4%	1966
Greenlee County	90	43.3%	52.2%	4.4%	1958

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AZ (179 bridges here).

Thomas County, GA · 179 bridges
Carroll County, IL · 179 bridges
Fremont County, IA · 179 bridges
Morris County, KS · 179 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AZ (1954 here).

Glenn County, CA · avg 1954 · 242 bridges
Menard County, TX · avg 1954 · 63 bridges
Foard County, TX · avg 1954 · 60 bridges
Throckmorton County, TX · avg 1954 · 53 bridges

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

All 179 Good 79 Fair 93 Poor 7

All bridges (179)

Sort:

Graham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Graham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,184 vehicle crossings a day

81.6% of Graham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 32.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Graham 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 (179)

IRR BIA RTE 3

IRR BIA RTE 3

IRR BIA RTE 8

IRR BIA RTE 8

IRR BIA RTE 8

IRR BIA 103

IRR BIA RTE 8

US 70

IRR US 70

US 70

Solomon Road

Bryce Road

US 70

4010: HAEKEL ROAD

IRR US 70

Airport Road

Bryce-Eden

IRR US 70

SR 266

Cottonwood Wash Rd

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

US 191

IRR BIA RTE 4

IRR BIA RTE 4

IRR US 70

SR 366

US 70

ASH CREEK RANCH RD

IRR BIA RTE 8

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

SR 266

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

US 70

SR 266

SR 266

US 191

SR 266

IRR BIA RTE 3

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

IRR US 70

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