County profile · official public datasets

Hinsdale County, CO

31 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.8% rated Good, 74.2% Fair, 0% Poor.

31
Public bridges: 25.8%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hinsdale County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 5%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 31
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Hinsdale County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hinsdale County ranks #3 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Hinsdale County, Colorado contains 31 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.8% are rated “Good,” 74.2% “Fair,” and 0% “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 Hinsdale County

Good condition

25.8%

8 of 31 rated 7-9

Fair condition

74.2%

23 of 31 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 31 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 31 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.8% (8)

Fair

74.2% (23)

Poor

0% (0)

45.2% of Hinsdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

14 of the 31 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 25.8% 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.

1950s

8
1960s

6
1980s

7
1990s

7
2000s

2
2010s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 8 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Colorado average (1982).

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Hinsdale County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hinsdale County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kiowa County	31	48.4%	45.2%	6.5%	1986
Hinsdale County (this page)	31	25.8%	74.2%	0%	1979
Crowley County	28	39.3%	57.1%	3.6%	1980
Dolores County	28	17.9%	75%	7.1%	1964
Phillips County	27	7.4%	74.1%	18.5%	1973
Teller County	27	25.9%	66.7%	7.4%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (31 bridges here).

Ogemaw County, MI · 31 bridges
Grant County, MN · 31 bridges
Carson City County, NV · 31 bridges
San Sebastián County, PR · 31 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 31 Good 8 Fair 23 Poor 0

All bridges (31)

Sort:

Hinsdale County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

45.2% of Hinsdale County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Hinsdale 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 (31)

WINDING ROAD 788

FDR 520I

WINDING ROAD 788

DEVILS CREEK ADMIN

3316: MILL CK CAMP

COUNTY ROAD 33

SH 149 ML

COUNTY ROAD 30

COUNTY ROAD 30

SH 149 ML

FDR 520

FDR 520

SH 149 ML

COUNTY ROAD 5

FDR 631

COUNTY ROAD 5

COUNTY ROAD 33

COUNTY ROAD 20

WINDING ROAD 788

COUNTY ROAD 5

COUNTY ROAD 35

3310T: POWDERHORN

CITY ST. 8 & HALF

WINDING ROAD 788

COUNTY ROAD 20

FDR 520.2C

COUNTY ROAD 5/50

FDR 631

FDR 637

FDR 631

COUNTY ROAD 5

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