County profile · official public datasets

Huerfano County, CO

94 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.9% rated Good, 62.8% Fair, 6.4% Poor.

94
Public bridges: 30.9%
Good condition: 6.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Huerfano 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.

43rd
of 64 on Poor share: 6.4%
Poor-condition share: 94
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Huerfano County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Huerfano County ranks #43 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.4%). Huerfano County, Colorado contains 94 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.9% are rated “Good,” 62.8% “Fair,” and 6.4% “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 Huerfano County

Good condition

30.9%

29 of 94 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.8%

59 of 94 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.4%

6 of 94 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#43 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 94 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.9% (29)

Fair

62.8% (59)

Poor

6.4% (6)

Huerfano County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,117 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,186 crossings a day against 3,130 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 94 of 94 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.2% of Huerfano County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 94 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 30.9% 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 38.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 25 ML NBND over US 160 SH 10 RR SPUR, built 1963, carries 5,000 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,117 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

6
1950s

6
1960s

30
1970s

2
1980s

14
1990s

17
2000s

3
2010s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 7 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Huerfano County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Huerfano County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
La Plata County	102	54.9%	43.1%	2%	1986
Gunnison County	100	36%	57%	7%	1981
Routt County	96	43.8%	50%	6.3%	1984
Huerfano County (this page)	94	30.9%	62.8%	6.4%	1975
Grand County	88	43.2%	51.1%	5.7%	1986
Elbert County	85	11.8%	82.4%	5.9%	1968

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (94 bridges here).

Yukon-Koyukuk County, AK · 94 bridges
Lee County, AR · 94 bridges
Henry County, KY · 94 bridges
Pendleton County, KY · 94 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 94 Good 29 Fair 59 Poor 6

All bridges (94)

Sort:

Huerfano County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Huerfano County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,117 vehicle crossings a day

53.2% of Huerfano County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 38.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Huerfano 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 (94)

COUNTY ROAD 543

I 25 ML NBND

SH 69 ML

SH 69 ML

SH 69 ML

I 25 ML SBND

SH 12 ML

I 25 BUS RT

US 160 ML

COUNTY RD-ROUSE RD

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 ML NBND

COUNTY ROAD 110

COUNTY ROAD

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 ML SBND

COUNTY ROAD 450

I 25 FRONTAGE RD

CR350/VALLEY RD

COUNTY ROAD 550

I 25 ML SBND

SH 69 ML

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 ML NBND

CR 340/BEAR CRK

COUNTY ROAD 330

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 ML SBND

SH 69 ML

COUNTY ROAD 598

COUNTY ROAD 540

I 25 ML SBND

COUNTY ROAD 104

COUNTY ROAD 616

I 25 ML NBND

SH 10 ML

COUNTY ROAD 634

FRANCISCO ST.

WEST VIRGINIA ST

SH 69 ML

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 BUS RT

I 25 BUS RT

COUNTY ROAD 310.2

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 BUS RT

US 160 ML

Related