Total bridges
61
Public highway bridges in Montezuma County
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.
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.
When Montezuma County's bridges were built
61 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 3
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s 1
1940–1949
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
10 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
12 bridges
- 2000s 4
2000–2009
4 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (17)
County Road 21
GoodOver: Dove Creek Canal Reach 1
Yellow Jacket Colorado, Montezuma, CO
Built 1985 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 20
SH 184 ML
GoodOver: NARRAGUINNEP CANAL
1.28 MI E OF JCT US 491, Montezuma, CO
Built 2016 Load: 26.2 t ADT: 1,100
County Road E
GoodOver: Towaoc Canal
5 mi south of Cortez CO, Montezuma, CO
Built 1990 Load: 26.6 t ADT: 100
COUNTY ROAD 36
GoodOver: DOLORES RIVER
JUST E OF SH 145, Montezuma, CO
Built 1992 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 33
SH 145 ML
GoodOver: WEST DOLORES RIVER
13 MILES NE OF DOLORES, Montezuma, CO
Built 1994 Load: 27.7 t ADT: 1,800
County Road Z
GoodOver: Dove Creek Canal Reach 1
Yellow Jacket Colorado, Montezuma, CO
Built 1985 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 30
COUNTY ROAD 27
GoodOver: MCELMO CREEK
.9 MI N OF CR H, Montezuma, CO
Built 1997 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 1,590
IRR BIA RTE 208
GoodOver: MANCOS RIVER
19.7 KM E OF CHIMNEY ROCK, Montezuma, CO
Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 100
EAST 7TH STREET
GoodOver: UNNAMED DRAINAGE
EAST OF L WAY, Montezuma, CO
Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,316
COUNTY ROAD 25
GoodOver: MCELMO CREEK
.9 MI N OF CR G, Montezuma, CO
Built 1997 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 1,392
FDR 435
GoodOver: DOLORES RIVER
.1 MI ON FDR 435, Montezuma, CO
Built 1964 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 40
SH 145 ML
GoodOver: PRIEST CREEK
26 MILES N OF DOLORES, Montezuma, CO
Built 1999 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 1,800
COUNTY ROAD N
GoodOver: ALKALI CANYON
1.5 MI W OF SH 491, Montezuma, CO
Built 2023 Load: 49.3 t ADT: 385
IRR# US 491 ML
GoodOver: CHIMNEY ROCK DRAW
5.6 MI N OF NEW MEXICO, Montezuma, CO
Built 1957 Load: 51.2 t ADT: 4,000
County Road 17
GoodOver: Dove Creek Canal Reach 1
Yellow Jacket Colorado, Montezuma, CO
Built 1984 Load: 56.1 t ADT: 20
IRR BIA RTE 202
GoodOver: NAVAJO WASH
2 KM EAST OF TOWAOC CO, Montezuma, CO
Built 1980 Load: 99.0 t ADT: 1,600
IRR BIA RT 201
GoodOver: NAVAJO WASH
S TOWOAC .4KM W HWY 160, Montezuma, CO
Built 1995 Load: 99.0 t ADT: 400
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.