County profile · official public datasets

Kit Carson County, CO

130 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.8% rated Good, 67.7% Fair, 1.5% Poor.

130
Public bridges
30.8%
Good condition
1.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Kit Carson County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 16%
lowest Poor share in state
1.5%
Poor-condition share
130
public highway bridges
1970
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.

Kit Carson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kit Carson County ranks #10 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.5%). Kit Carson County, Colorado contains 130 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.8% are rated “Good,” 67.7% “Fair,” and 1.5% “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

130

Public highway bridges in Kit Carson County

Good condition

30.8%

40 of 130 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.7%

88 of 130 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.5%

2 of 130 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#10 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 130 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
30.8% (40)
Fair
67.7% (88)
Poor
1.5% (2)

Kit Carson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 374 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 187 crossings a day against 719 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 130 of 130 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

69.2% of Kit Carson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 130 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 30.8% 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 90.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY ROAD 31 over SPRING CREEK, built 1936, carries 339 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 374 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Kit Carson County's bridges were built

130 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 46.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 12 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Kit Carson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kit Carson County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Fremont County 137 6.6%
Prowers County 137 13.1%
Kit Carson County (this page) 130 1.5%
Lincoln County 129 7.8%
Montrose County 118 2.5%
Baca County 106 5.7%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (130 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1970 here).

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

All bridges (130)

COUNTY ROAD 29

Fair

Over: N. FK. SMOKY HILL RIVER

0.5 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD C, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1930 Load: 6.4 t ADT: 7

SH 59 ML

Fair

Over: E SPRING CREEK TRIB.

12.9 MI S OF JCT I 70, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1969 Load: 14.1 t ADT: 380

COUNTY ROAD 39

Fair

Over: REPUBLICAN RIVER

0.2 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD N, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1954 Load: 14.9 t ADT: 31

COUNTY ROAD NN

Fair

Over: S.FORK ARIKAREE RIVER

2.2 MILES WEST OF ROAD 4, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1959 Load: 15.5 t ADT: 9

COUNTY ROAD 5

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

Flagler Interchange, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1975 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 1,244

COUNTY ROAD 12

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

7.2 MI E. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1975 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 15

COUNTY ROAD 35

Fair

Over: LANDSMAN CREEK

0.7 MILES NORTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1966 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 24

COUNTY ROAD HH

Fair

Over: BEAVER CREEK

0.8 MILES WEST OF ROAD 55, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1957 Load: 16.2 t ADT: 37

COUNTY ROAD 6

Fair

Over: DUCK CREEK

2.3 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 16.7 t ADT: 67

COUNTY ROAD NN

Fair

Over: LANDSMAN CREEK

1.7 MILES NW OF RD 49, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1970 Load: 17.1 t ADT: 17

COUNTY ROAD MM

Fair

Over: DRY GULCH

0.8 MILES WEST OF ROAD 44, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1974 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 3

COUNTY ROAD GG

Fair

Over: LITTLE BEAVER CREEK

1.2 MILES EAST OF ROAD 55, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1960 Load: 17.3 t ADT: 3

COUNTY ROAD 57

Fair

Over: MIDDLE BEAVER CREEK

0.8 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 17.6 t ADT: 70

COUNTY ROAD 44

Fair

Over: DRY GULCH

2.0 MILES NORTH OF ROAD M, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1981 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 43

US 24 ML

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK

2 MI W OF STRATTON, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1931 Load: 18.9 t ADT: 350

COUNTY ROAD 40

Fair

Over: TRIB. TO LANDSMAN CREEK

4.7 MI N OF I-70, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1930 Load: 19.3 t ADT: 262

COUNTY ROAD T

Fair

Over: SAND CREEK

0.6 MILES EAST OF ROAD 49, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 53

COUNTY ROAD M

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK TRIBUTARY

0.5 MILES EAST OF ROAD 23, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1995 Load: 20.5 t ADT: 5

COUNTY ROAD S

Fair

Over: SAND CREEK

0.7 MILES WEST OF HWY 385, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1987 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 159

COUNTY ROAD 4

Fair

Over: BUFFALO CREEK

0.2 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD A, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1982 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 191

COUNTY ROAD 49

Fair

Over: UNNAMED DRAINAGE

2.1 MILES NORTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1940 Load: 21.6 t ADT: 33

COUNTY ROAD 27

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

22.4 MI E OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 38

COUNTY ROAD 30

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

0.5 MILE W OF STRATTON, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 419

COUNTY ROAD 34

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

3.5 MI. E OF JCT S.H. 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 40

COUNTY ROAD 37

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

6.5 MI. E. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 46

COUNTY ROAD 53

Fair

Over: BEAVER CREEK

0.5 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1989 Load: 22.1 t ADT: 17

US 24 ML

Fair

Over: SAND CREEK

2 MI W OF SEIBERT, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1933 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 21

COUNTY ROAD 43

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

7.6 MI. E. OF JCT SH 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1966 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 98

COUNTY ROAD 30

Fair

Over: BRANCH OF LANDSMAN CREEK

0.4 MILES NORTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1959 Load: 22.6 t ADT: 318

COUNTY ROAD 40

Fair

Over: LANDSMAN CREEK

3.2 MILES NORTH OF I-70, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1972 Load: 23.9 t ADT: 301

COUNTY ROAD 3

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

2.0 MI W. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1975 Load: 24.2 t ADT: 14

US 24 ML

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK

0.5 MI E OF VONA, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1928 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 350

COUNTY ROAD 5

Fair

Over: SAND CREEK

4.7 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1923 Load: 25.3 t ADT: 66

SH 59 ML

Fair

Over: E SPRING CREEK TRIB.

16.1 MI S OF JCT I 70, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1960 Load: 25.6 t ADT: 380

COUNTY ROAD 35

Fair

Over: N. FK. SMOKY HILL RIVER

0.8 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD B, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1981 Load: 27.3 t ADT: 40

I 70 ML WBND

Fair

Over: SAND CREEK

16.5 MI W OF JCT S.H. 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1964 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 5,000

COUNTY ROAD 40

Fair

Over: DRY GULCH

.2 MI N OF CR FF, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1979 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 117

I 70 VONA SPUR

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

18.5 M. E. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1964 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 160

SH 57 ML

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

Stratton Exit, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1965 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 1,800

COUNTY ROAD 40

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

9.5 MI. E. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1966 Load: 28.4 t ADT: 339

COUNTY ROAD 4

Fair

Over: DUCK CREEK

1.0 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1964 Load: 29.1 t ADT: 201

COUNTY ROAD 53

Fair

Over: BONNY CREEK

0.5 MILES SOUTH CR NN, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1992 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 12

COUNTY ROAD R

Fair

Over: S.FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER

0.8 MILES EAST OF ROAD 5, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1982 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 11

I 70 ML WBND

Fair

Over: SPRING CREEK

7.6 MI. W. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1964 Load: 30.2 t ADT: 4,500

COUNTY ROAD G

Fair

Over: LANDSMAN CREEK

0.7 MILES WEST OF ROAD 28, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1992 Load: 30.3 t ADT: 55

COUNTY ROAD 5

Fair

Over: S.FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER

1.7 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1940 Load: 30.5 t ADT: 26

US 385 ML

Fair

Over: I 70 ML

BURLINGTON, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1968 Load: 30.6 t ADT: 2,800

COUNTY ROAD 30

Fair

Over: LANDSMAN CREEK

2 MI S OF COUNTY RD M, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1986 Load: 30.6 t ADT: 395

I 70 ML WBND

Fair

Over: COUNTY ROAD 59

1.3 MI. W. OF COLO.-KANSA, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1969 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 4,950

I 70 ML EBND

Fair

Over: COUNTY ROAD 53

5.4 MI. E. OF HWY 385, Kit Carson, CO

Built 1969 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 4,950
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.