County profile · official public datasets

Conejos County, CO

62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 46.8% Fair, 14.5% Poor.

62
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 14.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Conejos 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.

63rd
of 64 on Poor share: 14.5%
Poor-condition share: 62
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Conejos County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Conejos County ranks #63 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.5%). Conejos County, Colorado contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 46.8% “Fair,” and 14.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Conejos County

Good condition

38.7%

24 of 62 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.8%

29 of 62 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.5%

9 of 62 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (24)

Fair

46.8% (29)

Poor

14.5% (9)

Conejos County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,805 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 423 crossings a day against 380 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.9% of Conejos County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 62 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 38.7% 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 84.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 285 ML over CONEJOS RIV.OVERFLOW, built 1929, carries 3,200 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,805 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

2
1930s

5
1940s

3
1950s

7
1960s

6
1970s

3
1980s

11
1990s

17
2000s

1
2010s

4
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 17 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1976, 6 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Conejos County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Conejos County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Delta County	64	51.6%	45.3%	3.1%	1986
Sedgwick County	64	40.6%	57.8%	1.6%	1981
Pitkin County	62	38.7%	58.1%	3.2%	1985
Conejos County (this page)	62	38.7%	46.8%	14.5%	1976
Cheyenne County	61	57.4%	42.6%	0%	1978
Montezuma County	61	27.9%	63.9%	8.2%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (62 bridges here).

Gulf County, FL · 62 bridges
Pickens County, GA · 62 bridges
Switzerland County, IN · 62 bridges
Lake of the Woods County, MN · 62 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 62 Good 24 Fair 29 Poor 9

All bridges (62)

Sort:

Conejos County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Conejos County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,805 vehicle crossings a day

41.9% of Conejos County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 84.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Conejos County compares with Colorado'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 (62)

COUNTY ROAD 13

COUNTY ROAD 8

COUNTY ROAD 8

FDR 260

US 285 ML

COUNTY ROAD M

SH 17 ML

COUNTY ROAD 16

FSR 250.6A

SH 17 ML

SH 142 ML

SH 15 ML

SH 142 ML

COUNTY ROAD 17.5

SH 17 ML

SH 371 ML

US 285 ML

GOSHAWK DETENTION

COUNTY ROAD 16

US 285 ML

COUNTY ROAD CC

COUNTY ROAD BB

COUNTY ROAD 10

COUNTY ROAD BB

COUNTY ROAD 17

COUNTY ROAD 15

COUNTY ROAD E.5

COUNTY ROAD B

COUNTY ROAD 15

FDR 255

NFSR 250

FSR105

COUNTY ROAD 18

COUNTY ROAD G

SH 17 ML

COUNTY ROAD C

US 285 ML

COUNTY ROAD 10

COUNTY ROAD 28

COUNTY ROAD DD

COUNTY ROAD 19

COUNTY ROAD 17

SH 142 ML

COUNTY ROAD FF

COUNTY ROAD 9

COUNTY ROAD 13

NFSR 250

COUNTY ROAD AA

FSR 128.1B

COUNTY ROAD D.5

Related