County profile · official public datasets

Montezuma County, CO

61 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 27.9% rated Good, 63.9% Fair, 8.2% Poor.

61
Public bridges: 27.9%
Good condition: 8.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Montezuma County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

57th
of 64 on Poor share: 8.2%
Poor-condition share: 61
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Montezuma County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montezuma County ranks #57 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.2%). Montezuma County, Colorado contains 61 public highway bridges. Roughly 27.9% are rated “Good,” 63.9% “Fair,” and 8.2% “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 Montezuma County

Good condition

27.9%

17 of 61 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.9%

39 of 61 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.2%

5 of 61 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#57 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 61 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

27.9% (17)

Fair

63.9% (39)

Poor

8.2% (5)

Montezuma County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,502 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 300 crossings a day against 925 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 61 of 61 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.6% of Montezuma County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 61 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 27.9% 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 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 160 BUSINESS RT over MANCOS RIVER, built 1936, carries 530 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 1,502 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

3
1940s

1
1950s

6
1960s

10
1970s

11
1980s

11
1990s

12
2000s

4
2010s

1
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 12 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Colorado average (1982).

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Montezuma County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Montezuma County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Delta County	64	51.6%	45.3%	3.1%	1986
Conejos County	62	38.7%	46.8%	14.5%	1976
Pitkin County	62	38.7%	58.1%	3.2%	1985
Cheyenne County	61	57.4%	42.6%	0%	1978
Montezuma County (this page)	61	27.9%	63.9%	8.2%	1978
San Miguel County	59	54.2%	42.4%	3.4%	1987

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (61 bridges here).

Amador County, CA · 61 bridges
Atkinson County, GA · 61 bridges
Candler County, GA · 61 bridges
Upson County, GA · 61 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 61 Good 17 Fair 39 Poor 5

All bridges (61)

Sort:

Montezuma County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Montezuma County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,502 vehicle crossings a day

42.6% of Montezuma County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Montezuma 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 (61)

CR41.01-SPRUCE ST

County Road AA

SH 145 ML

COUNTY ROAD 30

IRR# CO.RD. J

IRR# CO.RD. G

County Road 23

County Road 22

County Road 20

IRR BIA RTE 204

IRR BIA RTE 204

County Road 18

County Road X

COUNTY ROAD S

COUNTY ROAD F

IRR# US 160 ML

County Road 19

IRR# US 160 ML

SH 145 ML

IRR# US 160 ML

COUNTY ROAD 39

IRR BIA RTE 206

EAST 7TH STREET

IRR# US 160 ML

FDR 504

IRR# CO.RD. G

US 160 ML

FDR 436

IRR# MESA VERDE RD

IRR# US 491 ML

4TH STREET

SH 145 ML

IRR# US 491 ML

Main St

IRR# CO.RD. G

US 491ML

IRR# SH 160 ML

US 160 ML

COUNTY ROAD 20

County Road 21

SH 184 ML

County Road E

COUNTY ROAD 36

SH 145 ML

County Road Z

COUNTY ROAD 27

IRR BIA RTE 208

EAST 7TH STREET

COUNTY ROAD 25

FDR 435

Related