Total bridges
17
Public highway bridges in Lake County
County profile · official public datasets
Lake County, CO
17 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.9% rated Good, 35.3% Fair, 11.8% Poor.
- 17
- Public bridges
- 52.9%
- Good condition
- 11.8%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lake County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 60th
- of 64 on Poor share
- 11.8%
- Poor-condition share
- 17
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Lake County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lake County ranks #60 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.8%). Lake County, Colorado contains 17 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.9% are rated “Good,” 35.3% “Fair,” and 11.8% “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.
Good condition
52.9%
9 of 17 rated 7-9
Fair condition
35.3%
6 of 17 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.8%
2 of 17 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#60 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 17 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 52.9% (9)
Fair 35.3% (6)
Poor 11.8% (2)
Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,720 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 860 crossings a day against 1,977 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 17 of 17 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
29.4% of Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
5 of the 17 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 52.9% 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 93% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SH 300 ML over CALIFORNIA GULCH, built 1939, carries 1,600 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 1,720 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lake County's bridges were built
17 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s 1
1950–1959
1 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
3 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s 1
2000–2009
1 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
4 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 4 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the Colorado average (1982).
How Lake County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Lake County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 6 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral County | 26 | 34.6% | 65.4% | 0% | 1973 |
| Custer County | 20 | 45% | 50% | 5% | 1972 |
| Gilpin County | 19 | 10.5% | 89.5% | 0% | 1984 |
| Lake County (this page) | 17 | 52.9% | 35.3% | 11.8% | 1985 |
| Alamosa County | 16 | 37.5% | 62.5% | 0% | 1985 |
| San Juan County | 13 | 53.8% | 38.5% | 7.7% | 1981 |
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 Lake 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 Lake County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (17 bridges here).
- Morton County, KS · 17 bridges
- Big Stone County, MN · 17 bridges
- Golden Valley County, MT · 17 bridges
- Hormigueros County, PR · 17 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (17)
NFSR 104.D
FairOver: HOMESTAKE TUNNEL OUTLET
MAY QUEEN CG, Lake, CO
Built 1984 ADT: 41
SH 82 ML
FairOver: LAKE CREEK
4.6 MI E OF TWIN LAKES, Lake, CO
Built 1948 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 2,200
SH 300 ML
FairOver: ARKANSAS RIVER
0.4 MI E OF JCT SH 24 MAL, Lake, CO
Built 1939 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 1,600
US 24 ML
FairOver: ARKANSAS RIVER
4 MI SOUTH OF JCT SH 300, Lake, CO
Built 1995 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 4,200
COUNTY ROAD 55
FairOver: ARKANSAS RIVER
0.1 MI EAST OF SH 24, Lake, CO
Built 1986 Load: 33.8 t ADT: 59
US 24 ML
FairOver: DRAW
0.5 MI S.E OF JCT SH 82 S, Lake, CO
Built 1937 Load: 67.0 t ADT: 4,000
NFSR 116
GoodOver: LAKE CREEK
.02 MI SW OF HWY 82, Lake, CO
Built 1989 Load: 27.9 t ADT: 110
NFSR 391
GoodOver: N. FORK LAKE CREEK
.1 MI SW HWY 82 / MP71, Lake, CO
Built 2014 Load: 35.3 t ADT: 66
US 24 ML
GoodOver: UP RR
9 MI S OF LEADVILLE, Lake, CO
Built 1995 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 4,200
US 24 ML
GoodOver: EAST FORK ARKANSAS RIVER
1.1 Mi W of SH91, Lake, CO
Built 2008 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 2,700
US 24 ML
GoodOver: UP RR
4 MI N OF LEADVILLE, Lake, CO
Built 2011 Load: 57.4 t ADT: 1,600
US 24 ML
GoodOver: CALIFORNIA GULCH
2.3 MI E OF LEADVILLE, Lake, CO
Built 2013 Load: 59.6 t ADT: 4,600
COUNTY ROAD 9
GoodOver: EAST FORK ARKANSAS RIVER
Near national park, Lake, CO
Built 2021 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 134
COUNTY ROAD 9
GoodOver: LAKE FORK
Near Inlet TurquoiseLk, Lake, CO
Built 2016 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 183
US 24 ML
GoodOver: LAKE CREEK
JUST N. JCT SH82, Lake, CO
Built 1993 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 4,200
SH 300 ML
PoorOver: LAKE FORK CREEK
1.6 MI E OF JCT SH 24 MAL, Lake, CO
Built 1954 Load: 22.5 t ADT: 120
SH 300 ML
PoorOver: CALIFORNIA GULCH
0.3 MI E OF JCT SH, Lake, CO
Built 1939 Load: 25.1 t ADT: 1,600
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.