Total bridges
391
Public highway bridges in Arapahoe County
County profile · official public datasets
Arapahoe County, CO
391 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.1% rated Good, 66.8% Fair, 7.2% Poor.
- 391
- Public bridges
- 26.1%
- Good condition
- 7.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Arapahoe County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 52nd
- of 64 on Poor share
- 7.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 391
- public highway bridges
- 1984
- 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.
Arapahoe County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Arapahoe County ranks #52 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.2%). Arapahoe County, Colorado contains 391 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.1% are rated “Good,” 66.8% “Fair,” and 7.2% “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.
Good condition
26.1%
102 of 391 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.8%
261 of 391 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.2%
28 of 391 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#52 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 391 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 26.1% (102)
Fair 66.8% (261)
Poor 7.2% (28)
Arapahoe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 313,856 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 11,209 crossings a day against 18,155 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 391 of 391 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
33.8% of Arapahoe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
132 of the 391 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 26.1% 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 14.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 285 ML over LITTLE DRY CREEK, built 1955, carries 46,000 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 313,856 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Arapahoe County's bridges were built
391 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 11
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1950s 16
1950–1959
16 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
85 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
41 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
73 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
68 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
65 bridges
- 2010s 23
2010–2019
23 bridges
- 2020s 9
2020–2029
9 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 85 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Colorado average (1982).
How Arapahoe County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Arapahoe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County | 464 | 33.8% | 59.9% | 6.3% | 1984 |
| Denver County | 458 | 41.9% | 56.3% | 1.7% | 1991 |
| Arapahoe County (this page) | 391 | 26.1% | 66.8% | 7.2% | 1984 |
| Mesa County | 319 | 35.1% | 63.3% | 1.6% | 1981 |
| Boulder County | 311 | 34.4% | 63.3% | 2.3% | 1987 |
| Pueblo County | 264 | 29.5% | 65.9% | 4.5% | 1973 |
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 Arapahoe 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 Arapahoe County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (391 bridges here).
- Lee County, FL · 391 bridges
- Kingman County, KS · 391 bridges
- Wayne County, OH · 391 bridges
- DeKalb County, GA · 392 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1984 here).
- Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
- Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
- Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges
- Steuben County, NY · avg 1984 · 627 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (261)
AURORA PARKWAY
FairOver: EAST TOLLGATE CREEK
2 MI SOUTH OF QUINCY, Arapahoe, CO
Built 2005 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 25,054
GARTRELL ROAD
FairOver: PINEY CREEK
0.1 MI S OF ARAPAHOE RD, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1999 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 12,996
AURORA PARKWAY
FairOver: PINEY CREEK
0.8 MI S OF ARAPAHOE RD, Arapahoe, CO
Built 2006 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 10,894
CALEY AVENUE
FairOver: COTTONWOOD CREEK
.1 MI W OF LIMA STREET, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1986 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 236
FOREST WAY
FairOver: Willow Creek
JUST WEST OF HOLLY STREET, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1983 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 1,207
MINERAL AVENUE
FairOver: WILLOW CREEK
.5 MILE E OF QUEBEC, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1982 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 24,068
FAIRWAY LANE
FairOver: DUTCH CREEK
.6 MI E OF PLATTE CANYON, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1997 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 2,996
FOX STREET
FairOver: SOUTHWEST GREENBELT
INTERSECTION FOX/STANFORD, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1960 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 6,225
SH 88 ML
FairOver: BIG DRY CREEK
IN LITTLETON, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1963 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 29,000
US 85ML
FairOver: SLAUGHTER HOUSE GULCH
NEAR BELLEVIEW, Arapahoe, CO
Built 1999 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 54,000
MINERAL AVE
FairOver: LEE GULCH
0.3 MI S OF DRY CREEK, Arapahoe, CO
Built 2021 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 19,170
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.