Total bridges
130
Public highway bridges in Kit Carson County
County profile · official public datasets
130 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.8% rated Good, 67.7% Fair, 1.5% Poor.
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.
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.
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
Share of 130 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
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.
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.
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.
130 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1920–1929
2 bridges
1930–1939
6 bridges
1940–1949
3 bridges
1950–1959
9 bridges
1960–1969
60 bridges
1970–1979
19 bridges
1980–1989
14 bridges
1990–1999
14 bridges
2000–2009
2 bridges
2010–2019
1 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.
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.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fremont County | 137 | 19.7% | 73.7% | 6.6% | 1966 |
| Prowers County | 137 | 17.5% | 69.3% | 13.1% | 1974 |
| Kit Carson County (this page) | 130 | 30.8% | 67.7% | 1.5% | 1970 |
| Lincoln County | 129 | 17.8% | 74.4% | 7.8% | 1977 |
| Montrose County | 118 | 36.4% | 61% | 2.5% | 1980 |
| Baca County | 106 | 21.7% | 72.6% | 5.7% | 1963 |
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.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Kit Carson County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside CO (130 bridges here).
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.
Over: N. FK. SMOKY HILL RIVER
0.5 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD C, Kit Carson, CO
Over: E SPRING CREEK TRIB.
12.9 MI S OF JCT I 70, Kit Carson, CO
Over: REPUBLICAN RIVER
0.2 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD N, Kit Carson, CO
Over: S.FORK ARIKAREE RIVER
2.2 MILES WEST OF ROAD 4, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
Flagler Interchange, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
7.2 MI E. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LANDSMAN CREEK
0.7 MILES NORTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO
Over: BEAVER CREEK
0.8 MILES WEST OF ROAD 55, Kit Carson, CO
Over: DUCK CREEK
2.3 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LANDSMAN CREEK
1.7 MILES NW OF RD 49, Kit Carson, CO
Over: DRY GULCH
0.8 MILES WEST OF ROAD 44, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LITTLE BEAVER CREEK
1.2 MILES EAST OF ROAD 55, Kit Carson, CO
Over: MIDDLE BEAVER CREEK
0.8 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO
Over: DRY GULCH
2.0 MILES NORTH OF ROAD M, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SPRING CREEK
2 MI W OF STRATTON, Kit Carson, CO
Over: TRIB. TO LANDSMAN CREEK
4.7 MI N OF I-70, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SAND CREEK
0.6 MILES EAST OF ROAD 49, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SPRING CREEK TRIBUTARY
0.5 MILES EAST OF ROAD 23, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SAND CREEK
0.7 MILES WEST OF HWY 385, Kit Carson, CO
Over: BUFFALO CREEK
0.2 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD A, Kit Carson, CO
Over: UNNAMED DRAINAGE
2.1 MILES NORTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
22.4 MI E OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
0.5 MILE W OF STRATTON, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
3.5 MI. E OF JCT S.H. 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
6.5 MI. E. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: BEAVER CREEK
0.5 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SAND CREEK
2 MI W OF SEIBERT, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
7.6 MI. E. OF JCT SH 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: BRANCH OF LANDSMAN CREEK
0.4 MILES NORTH OF ROAD G, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LANDSMAN CREEK
3.2 MILES NORTH OF I-70, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
2.0 MI W. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SPRING CREEK
0.5 MI E OF VONA, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SAND CREEK
4.7 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO
Over: E SPRING CREEK TRIB.
16.1 MI S OF JCT I 70, Kit Carson, CO
Over: N. FK. SMOKY HILL RIVER
0.8 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD B, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SAND CREEK
16.5 MI W OF JCT S.H. 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: DRY GULCH
.2 MI N OF CR FF, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
18.5 M. E. OF FLAGLER, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
Stratton Exit, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
9.5 MI. E. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: DUCK CREEK
1.0 MILES NORTH OF ROAD V, Kit Carson, CO
Over: BONNY CREEK
0.5 MILES SOUTH CR NN, Kit Carson, CO
Over: S.FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER
0.8 MILES EAST OF ROAD 5, Kit Carson, CO
Over: SPRING CREEK
7.6 MI. W. OF JCT. SH 57, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LANDSMAN CREEK
0.7 MILES WEST OF ROAD 28, Kit Carson, CO
Over: S.FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER
1.7 MILES SOUTH OF ROAD R, Kit Carson, CO
Over: I 70 ML
BURLINGTON, Kit Carson, CO
Over: LANDSMAN CREEK
2 MI S OF COUNTY RD M, Kit Carson, CO
Over: COUNTY ROAD 59
1.3 MI. W. OF COLO.-KANSA, Kit Carson, CO
Over: COUNTY ROAD 53
5.4 MI. E. OF HWY 385, Kit Carson, CO
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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.