County profile · official public datasets

Elbert County, CO

85 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 11.8% rated Good, 82.4% Fair, 5.9% Poor.

85
Public bridges: 11.8%
Good condition: 5.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Elbert 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.

38th
of 64 on Poor share: 5.9%
Poor-condition share: 85
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Elbert County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Elbert County ranks #38 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.9%). Elbert County, Colorado contains 85 public highway bridges. Roughly 11.8% are rated “Good,” 82.4% “Fair,” and 5.9% “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

Public highway bridges in Elbert County

Good condition

11.8%

10 of 85 rated 7-9

Fair condition

82.4%

70 of 85 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.9%

5 of 85 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 85 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

11.8% (10)

Fair

82.4% (70)

Poor

5.9% (5)

Elbert County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,884 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,377 crossings a day against 2,373 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 85 of 85 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.4% of Elbert County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

59 of the 85 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 11.8% 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 71.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 86 ML over KIOWA CREEK, built 1948, carries 4,900 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 6,884 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

8
1940s

1
1950s

11
1960s

31
1970s

11
1980s

15
1990s

4
2000s

1
2010s

1
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 14 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Elbert County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.9% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 9 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Elbert County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Huerfano County	94	30.9%	62.8%	6.4%	1975
Grand County	88	43.2%	51.1%	5.7%	1986
Elbert County (this page)	85	11.8%	82.4%	5.9%	1968
Chaffee County	84	28.6%	65.5%	6%	1973
Moffat County	80	28.8%	65%	6.3%	1973
Clear Creek County	77	36.4%	57.1%	6.5%	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 Elbert 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 Elbert County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (85 bridges here).

Monroe County, AR · 85 bridges
Hardee County, FL · 85 bridges
Early County, GA · 85 bridges
Union County, GA · 85 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Providence County, RI · avg 1968 · 476 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges

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

All 85 Good 10 Fair 70 Poor 5

All bridges (85)

Sort:

Elbert County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Elbert County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,884 vehicle crossings a day

69.4% of Elbert County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 71.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Elbert 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 (85)

I 70 SERVICE RD

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML EBND

COUNTY ROAD 194

I 70 SERVICE RD

SH 86 ML

I 70 FRONTAGE RD

I 70 SERVICE RD

SH 86 ML

I 70 ML WBND

SH 86 ML

SH 86 ML

SH 86 ML

US 24 ML

SH 86 ML

COUNTY ROAD 150

SH 86 ML

COUNTY ROAD 105

COUNTY ROAD 125

COUNTY ROAD 125

COUNTY ROAD 158

COUNTY ROAD 162

COUNTY ROAD 162

COUNTY ROAD 162

COUNTY ROAD 166

COUNTY ROAD 166

COUNTY ROAD 17

COUNTY ROAD 178

COUNTY ROAD 178

COUNTY ROAD 182

COUNTY ROAD 182

COUNTY ROAD 190

COUNTY ROAD 194

COUNTY ROAD 69

COUNTY ROAD 98

COUNTY ROAD 98

COUNTY ROAD 99

I 70 ML

US 24 ML

I 70 AGATE SPUR

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML EBND

COUNTY ROAD 74

I 70 ML WBND

SH 86 ML

I 70 ML I 70 Serv

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML I 70 Serv

Related