Total bridges
319
Public highway bridges in Mesa County
County profile · official public datasets
Mesa County, CO
319 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.1% rated Good, 63.3% Fair, 1.6% Poor.
- 319
- Public bridges
- 35.1%
- Good condition
- 1.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Mesa County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 19%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 1.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 319
- public highway bridges
- 1981
- 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.
Mesa County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mesa County ranks #12 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.6%). Mesa County, Colorado contains 319 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.1% are rated “Good,” 63.3% “Fair,” and 1.6% “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
35.1%
112 of 319 rated 7-9
Fair condition
63.3%
202 of 319 rated 5-6
Poor condition
1.6%
5 of 319 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#12 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 319 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.1% (112)
Fair 63.3% (202)
Poor 1.6% (5)
Mesa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,172 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,834 crossings a day against 3,721 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 319 of 319 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
40.4% of Mesa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
129 of the 319 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 35.1% 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 58.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SH 141 ML over COLORADO RIVER, built 1968, carries 8,300 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 14,172 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Mesa County's bridges were built
319 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1930s 5
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 29
1950–1959
29 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
64 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
35 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
82 bridges
- 1990s 31
1990–1999
31 bridges
- 2000s 24
2000–2009
24 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
33 bridges
- 2020s 10
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 82 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Colorado average (1982).
How Mesa County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Mesa County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.6% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arapahoe County | 391 | 26.1% | 66.8% | 7.2% | 1984 |
| Mesa County (this page) | 319 | 35.1% | 63.3% | 1.6% | 1981 |
| Boulder County | 311 | 34.4% | 63.3% | 2.3% | 1987 |
| Pueblo County | 264 | 29.5% | 65.9% | 4.5% | 1973 |
| Douglas County | 263 | 57.8% | 39.9% | 2.3% | 1996 |
| Las Animas County | 207 | 26.1% | 59.9% | 14% | 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 Mesa 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 Mesa County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (319 bridges here).
- Garland County, AR · 319 bridges
- Adams County, IL · 319 bridges
- Bates County, MO · 319 bridges
- Clermont County, OH · 319 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1981 here).
- Franklin County, OH · avg 1981 · 922 bridges
- Greenville County, SC · avg 1981 · 635 bridges
- Montgomery County, OH · avg 1981 · 632 bridges
- McLean County, IL · avg 1981 · 624 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
COUNTY ROAD M.80
PoorOver: WEST SALT WASH
1.5 MI NW OF CR 8, Mesa, CO
Built 1931 Load: 23.0 t ADT: 131
SH 141 ML
PoorOver: COLORADO RIVER
S EDGE OF CLIFTON, Mesa, CO
Built 1968 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 8,300
US 6 ML
PoorOver: COLORADO RIVER
IN PALISADE, Mesa, CO
Built 1949 Load: 30.0 t ADT: 2,900
I.9 ROAD
PoorOver: Local Drainage
.6 Mi NW of CAMEO, Mesa, CO
Built 1901 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 309
I 70 FRONTAGE RD
PoorOver: ADOBE CREEK SR
2.5 MI E OF FRUITA INT, Mesa, CO
Built 1969 Load: 38.0 t ADT: 2,532
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.