County profile · official public datasets

Clear Creek County, CO

77 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.4% rated Good, 57.1% Fair, 6.5% Poor.

77
Public bridges
36.4%
Good condition
6.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

45th
of 64 on Poor share
6.5%
Poor-condition share
77
public highway bridges
1978
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.

Clear Creek County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clear Creek County ranks #45 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.5%). Clear Creek County, Colorado contains 77 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.4% are rated “Good,” 57.1% “Fair,” and 6.5% “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

77

Public highway bridges in Clear Creek County

Good condition

36.4%

28 of 77 rated 7-9

Fair condition

57.1%

44 of 77 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.5%

5 of 77 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 77 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
36.4% (28)
Fair
57.1% (44)
Poor
6.5% (5)

Clear Creek County's Poor-condition bridges carry 156,400 vehicle crossings a day

That is 13.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 31,280 crossings a day against 12,112 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 77 of 77 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.8% of Clear Creek County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 77 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 36.4% 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 30.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 70 FRONTAGE RD over CLEAR CREEK SR, built 1936, carries 47,000 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 156,400 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Clear Creek County's bridges were built

77 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Colorado average (1982).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Clear Creek County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Clear Creek County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 6 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clear Creek County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Elbert County 85 5.9%
Chaffee County 84 6%
Moffat County 80 6.3%
Clear Creek County (this page) 77 6.5%
Washington County 75 6.7%
Rio Grande County 71 1.4%

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 Clear Creek 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 Clear Creek County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (77 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1978 here).

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

All 77 Good 28 Fair 44 Poor 5

Good-condition bridges (28)

SH 103 ML

Good

Over: CHICAGO CREEK

1 MI SO OF JCT I 70 ML, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1958 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 2,300

SH 103 ML

Good

Over: CHICAGO CREEK

0.5 MI S OF JCT I 70 ML, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1958 Load: 19.9 t ADT: 2,300

I 70 FRONTAGE

Good

Over: W FORK CLEAR CREEK SR

3.5 MI NE OF GEORGETOWN, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2000 Load: 23.9 t ADT: 3,950

I 70 ML

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

2.0 MI E OF JCT SH 130, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1989 Load: 24.6 t ADT: 47,000

N SPRING GULCH RD

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK AR

3.7 MI EAST OF JCT US 40, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1965 Load: 24.7 t ADT: 36,000

7TH STREET

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

W. OF ARGENTINE STREET, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2004 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 350

I 70 ML

Good

Over: COUNTY ROAD

1.1 MI E OF JCT US 40, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1965 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 37,000

RAMP TO I 70 EBND

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK R

3.4 MI E. OF JCT SH 103, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1999 Load: 28.8 t ADT: 23,500

COUNTY ROAD 306

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

1 MI NE GEORGETOWN LAKE, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2008 Load: 29.1 t ADT: 391

I 70 ML WBND

Good

Over: COUNTY ROAD

DOWNIEVILLE INT., Clear Creek, CO

Built 1965 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 18,500

I 70 ML EBND

Good

Over: COUNTY ROAD

2.5 MI E OF JCT US 40, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1965 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 18,500

US 6 ML

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

1.5 MI E OF JCT I70, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1984 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 5,600

US 40 ML

Good

Over: GAME CROSSING

8 MILES WEST OF EMPIRE, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 6,600

MINER STREET

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

MINER ST OVER CLEAR CREEK, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1990 Load: 33.1 t ADT: 951

SH 103 ML

Good

Over: I 70 ML

IN IDAHO SPRINGS, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2015 Load: 33.7 t ADT: 2,300

I 70 ML

Good

Over: CITY STREET

AT GEORGETOWN, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1989 Load: 34.2 t ADT: 33,000

8TH STREET

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK TRIBUTARY

JUST W OF GRIFFITH ST, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2014 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 408

I 70(BUSINESS RT)

Good

Over: I 70 ML

1.5 MI E OF JCT SH 103, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2016 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 6,900

I 70 ML EBND

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

2.7 MI E OF JCT SH 103, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2014 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 23,500

COLORADO BLVD

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

IN IDAHO SPRINGS, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2018 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 3,792

RAMP TO I 70 WBND

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK R

3.4 MI E OF JCT SH 103, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1995 Load: 42.3 t ADT: 23,500

COUNTY ROAD 252

Good

Over: WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK

JUST SOUTH OF EMPIRE, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1979 Load: 45.8 t ADT: 106

FALL RIVER ROAD

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

2.3 MI W of IDAHO SPRINGS, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2020 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 72

WOODWARD AVENUE

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

JUST S OF MAIN STREET, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1999 Load: 53.2 t ADT: 547

ALVARADO RD

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

WEST OF LAWSON, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2010 Load: 54.8 t ADT: 452

US 6 ML

Good

Over: NORTH CLEAR CREEK

US 6 OVER CLEAR CREEK, Clear Creek, CO

Built 1998 Load: 58.7 t ADT: 5,600

USFS RD 302

Good

Over: QUAYLE CREEK

1-70 AT BAKERVILLE EXIT, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2006 Load: 60.6 t ADT: 10

I 70 FRONTAGE RD

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK SR

W inter. of Idaho Springs, Clear Creek, CO

Built 2010 Load: 94.0 t ADT: 36,000

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.