County profile · official public datasets

Garfield County, CO

167 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 64.1% Fair, 1.2% Poor.

167
Public bridges: 34.7%
Good condition: 1.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Garfield County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.2%
Poor-condition share: 167
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Garfield County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Garfield County ranks #7 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.2%). Garfield County, Colorado contains 167 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 64.1% “Fair,” and 1.2% “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.

Total bridges

167

Public highway bridges in Garfield County

Good condition

34.7%

58 of 167 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.1%

107 of 167 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.2%

2 of 167 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#7 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 167 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.7% (58)

Fair

64.1% (107)

Poor

1.2% (2)

Garfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,300 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,650 crossings a day against 6,509 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 167 of 167 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

26.3% of Garfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

44 of the 167 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 34.7% 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 58.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 6 ML over PARACHUTE CREEK SR, built 1934, carries 3,100 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,300 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

5
1940s

3
1950s

10
1960s

8
1970s

44
1980s

59
1990s

24
2000s

5
2010s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Colorado average (1982).

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Garfield County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Garfield County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Otero County	195	24.6%	65.1%	10.3%	1973
Morgan County	192	47.9%	49.5%	2.6%	1986
Logan County	182	36.8%	54.4%	8.8%	1984
Eagle County	174	39.7%	55.2%	5.2%	1984
Garfield County (this page)	167	34.7%	64.1%	1.2%	1980
Fremont County	137	19.7%	73.7%	6.6%	1966

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (167 bridges here).

Cherokee County, AL · 167 bridges
Mitchell County, IA · 167 bridges
Ness County, KS · 167 bridges
Gratiot County, MI · 167 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 167 Good 58 Fair 107 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (58)

Sort:

Garfield County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Garfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,300 vehicle crossings a day

26.3% of Garfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Garfield 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

Good-condition bridges (58)

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 SERVICE RD

I 70 ML WBND

OAKWAY N (CR 168A)

Co Rd 311

I 70 ML EBND

CR324/Maxfield Rd

SH 82 ML

Highway 325

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 WBND

SH 82 ML

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 EBND

County Road 137

County Road 204

Spencer Parkway

I 70 EB OFFRAMP

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML WBND

NFSR 600.1

County Road 245

Divide Creek Road

I 70 ML EBND

County Road 204

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 FRONTAGE RD

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML EBND

RAMP TO I 70 WBND

I 70 ML EBND

CTY RD 155/FDR 205

Whiteriver Avenue

I 70 ML EBND

County Road 204

I 70 ML EBND

27TH STREET

PARACHUTE PRK BLVD

County Road 126

N Bridge Dr

I 70 ML EBND

I 70 ML WBND

I 70 ML WBND

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