County profile · official public datasets

Denver County, CO

458 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.9% rated Good, 56.3% Fair, 1.7% Poor.

458
Public bridges: 41.9%
Good condition: 1.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Denver County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.7%
Poor-condition share: 458
public highway bridges: 1991
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.

Denver County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Denver County ranks #13 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.7%). Denver County, Colorado contains 458 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.9% are rated “Good,” 56.3% “Fair,” and 1.7% “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

458

Public highway bridges in Denver County

Good condition

41.9%

192 of 458 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56.3%

258 of 458 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.7%

8 of 458 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 458 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.9% (192)

Fair

56.3% (258)

Poor

1.7% (8)

Denver County's Poor-condition bridges carry 355,049 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 44,381 crossings a day against 43,411 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 450 of 458 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.4% of Denver County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 458 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 41.9% 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 36.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 225 ML over GOLDSMITH GULCH, built 1971, carries 128,000 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 355,049 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

3
1940s

2
1950s

27
1960s

51
1970s

40
1980s

55
1990s

111
2000s

69
2010s

65
2020s

34

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 111 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1991, 9 years newer than the Colorado average of 1982.

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Denver County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.7% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1991 against a peer-group mean of 1985 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Denver County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Larimer County	559	49%	49%	2%	1987
Adams County	535	43.9%	49.2%	6.9%	1990
Jefferson County	464	33.8%	59.9%	6.3%	1984
Denver County (this page)	458	41.9%	56.3%	1.7%	1991
Arapahoe County	391	26.1%	66.8%	7.2%	1984
Mesa County	319	35.1%	63.3%	1.6%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (458 bridges here).

Buffalo County, NE · 459 bridges
Luzerne County, PA · 457 bridges
Jefferson County, TX · 457 bridges
Hunt County, TX · 456 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1991 here).

Baldwin County, AL · avg 1991 · 381 bridges
Union County, NC · avg 1991 · 353 bridges
Rock County, MN · avg 1991 · 265 bridges
Alcorn County, MS · avg 1991 · 213 bridges

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

All 458 Good 192 Fair 258 Poor 8

All bridges (458)

Sort:

Denver County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Denver County's Poor-condition bridges carry 355,049 vehicle crossings a day

21.4% of Denver County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Denver 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 (458)

13TH AVE

RMP TO I25/AUR.PKW

ARAPAHOE ST

EB SPEER BLVD

11TH AVE

BROADWAY

CLARKSON ST

CORONA ST

EBnd 1ST AVE

QUEBEC STREET

YALE AVE

MAXWELL PLACE

ROSEMARY WAY

PRINCETON AVE

ZUNI STREET

WEST 8TH AVENUE

CHAMBERS ROAD

OLD WADSWORTH BLVD

BALSAM ST

CRESTLINE AVE

DEDISSE PARK RD

LAWRENCE STREET

SW 2ND LEVEL NEW

SW 4/5TH LVL PARK

I 70 ML

RAMP/I 70 ML EBND

UNIVERSITY BLVD

YOSEMITE ST

MONACO PARKWAY

COLUMBINE ST

15TH ST

8TH AVENUE

STEELE STREET

RAMP/I 70 ML WBND

JOSEPHINE ST

YAMPA ST

YOSEMITE STREET

SH 83 ML

RAMP TO I 25 SBND

RAMP TO PARK AV R

RAMP TO US 85 SBND

38TH ST

NB UNIVERSITY BLVD

PARK AVE WEST

WASHINGTON STREET

WB PENA BLVD

WASHINGTON ST

WB 56TH AVE

SH 26 ML ALAMEDA

I 70 ML

Related